From: David JonesTo: Major project watchersDate: January 12, 2026Re: The Canadian Curse: Execution Falters in Face of Uncertainty Canada talks a lot about nation-building. We talk about clean energy, critical minerals, trade corridors, and productivity. We talk about seizing opportunities created by global instability and reshoring supply chains. What we do far less effectively is […]
From: Tasnim Fariha and David JonesTo: Infrastructure watchersDate: December 18, 2025Re: High-Speed Rail Can’t Arrive Fast Enough Canada’s Toronto-Quebec City rail corridor was built for a different era – one far less crowded and connected than today. More than a century of population growth, economic expansion, and rising transport demand have placed a strain on […]
Published in The Hill Times. Canada’s Toronto-Quebec City rail corridor was built for a different era—one far less crowded and connected than today. Decades of population growth, economic expansion, and rising transport demand have placed a strain on this aging infrastructure, prompting renewed debate over high-speed rail. Existing congestion on the Via Rail line—with on-time […]
Canada needs new infrastructure fast – but major projects still take years or decades. Why? Host Michael Hainsworth speaks with economist David Jones about what’s slowing us down and how projects under the Building Canada Act could speed things up.
Canada needs new infrastructure fast – but major projects still take years or decades. Why? Host Michael Hainsworth speaks with economist David Jones about what’s slowing us down and how projects under the Building Canada Act could speed things up.
Since 2022, real general government gross fixed capital formation has been rising steadily, and with the new measures announced in the federal government’s 2025 budget, it will likely continue increasing. Real business investment, however, has been moving in the opposite direction. While more government investment in areas such as defence and infrastructure can support growth […]
From: Don Drummond and Nicholas Dahir To: Defence spending observersDate: December 1, 2025Re: Something Big Happened to Defence in the Budget: What it is isn’t exactly clear A few defence matters were made clear in the last month’s federal budget. First, the injection of new funding is very large. Second, the incremental money still leaves […]
Published in The Hub. Slogging through the 493 pages of the federal government’s November 4th, 2025, budget reveals the pre-release hype about transformational change to have been just that: hype. Start with the bloated page count. Like its predecessors, the budget buries the key numbers in hundreds of pages of repetition, reannouncements, and condescending political […]
Published in The Globe and Mail. Ottawa’s budget lands at a pivotal moment. As Sunday’s Globe and Mail editorial put it, we have reached a fork in the road. The test for this budget was whether it would level with Canadians about the scale of the economic problems and chart a credible path forward. By that […]
From: Brad Gilmour and Sander DuncansonTo: Major project watchersDate: October 3, 2025Re: Bill C-5 – Pros, Cons, and Options for Domestic Investors Pessimism about the ability to advance Canadian projects has made infrastructure investors wary. Lack of confidence has grown from necessary yet increasingly uncertain and complicated environmental and regulatory approval processes, with multiple layers […]
From: Colin BusbyTo: Parliament watchersDate: September 12, 2025Re: The Three Big Challenges Facing Parliament Next Week Three big policy issues will be the focal point when Parliament resumes next week. The government faces a challenging balancing act as it works against the backdrop of a weakening economy – the unemployment rate is at 7.1 percent […]
Published in the Financial Post. The Carney government says it will spend less, invest more and make government more efficient. Its bold, new defence commitments mean that cuts to operational spending will need to be much wider and deeper than planned. Nowhere is the need to improve efficiency more obvious than at Canada Post. The […]
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From: David JonesTo: Major project watchersDate: January 12, 2026Re: The Canadian Curse: Execution Falters in Face of Uncertainty Canada talks a lot about nation-building. We talk about clean energy, critical minerals, trade corridors, and productivity. We talk about seizing opportunities created by global instability and reshoring supply chains. What we do far less effectively is […] 
From: Tasnim Fariha and David JonesTo: Infrastructure watchersDate: December 18, 2025Re: High-Speed Rail Can’t Arrive Fast Enough Canada’s Toronto-Quebec City rail corridor was built for a different era – one far less crowded and connected than today. More than a century of population growth, economic expansion, and rising transport demand have placed a strain on […] 
Published in The Hill Times. Canada’s Toronto-Quebec City rail corridor was built for a different era—one far less crowded and connected than today. Decades of population growth, economic expansion, and rising transport demand have placed a strain on this aging infrastructure, prompting renewed debate over high-speed rail. Existing congestion on the Via Rail line—with on-time […] 
Since 2022, real general government gross fixed capital formation has been rising steadily, and with the new measures announced in the federal government’s 2025 budget, it will likely continue increasing. Real business investment, however, has been moving in the opposite direction. While more government investment in areas such as defence and infrastructure can support growth […] 
From: Don Drummond and Nicholas Dahir To: Defence spending observersDate: December 1, 2025Re: Something Big Happened to Defence in the Budget: What it is isn’t exactly clear A few defence matters were made clear in the last month’s federal budget. First, the injection of new funding is very large. Second, the incremental money still leaves […] 
Published in The Hub. Slogging through the 493 pages of the federal government’s November 4th, 2025, budget reveals the pre-release hype about transformational change to have been just that: hype. Start with the bloated page count. Like its predecessors, the budget buries the key numbers in hundreds of pages of repetition, reannouncements, and condescending political […] 
Published in The Globe and Mail. Ottawa’s budget lands at a pivotal moment. As Sunday’s Globe and Mail editorial put it, we have reached a fork in the road. The test for this budget was whether it would level with Canadians about the scale of the economic problems and chart a credible path forward. By that […] 
From: Brad Gilmour and Sander DuncansonTo: Major project watchersDate: October 3, 2025Re: Bill C-5 – Pros, Cons, and Options for Domestic Investors Pessimism about the ability to advance Canadian projects has made infrastructure investors wary. Lack of confidence has grown from necessary yet increasingly uncertain and complicated environmental and regulatory approval processes, with multiple layers […] 
From: Colin BusbyTo: Parliament watchersDate: September 12, 2025Re: The Three Big Challenges Facing Parliament Next Week Three big policy issues will be the focal point when Parliament resumes next week. The government faces a challenging balancing act as it works against the backdrop of a weakening economy – the unemployment rate is at 7.1 percent […] 
Published in the Financial Post. The Carney government says it will spend less, invest more and make government more efficient. Its bold, new defence commitments mean that cuts to operational spending will need to be much wider and deeper than planned. Nowhere is the need to improve efficiency more obvious than at Canada Post. The […]