The Compelling Case for Government Accounting for Natural Assets
From: Peter van Dijk, James K. Stewart and Joanna EyquemTo: Canadians concerned about natural asset valuesDate: February 14, 2025Re: The Compelling Case for Government Accounting for Natural Assets As governments face the accelerating impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, valuing and reporting natural assets in public sector accounts is more critical than ever. Natural […] Housing Policy for a Growing Canada
Tackling Canada’s housing crisis requires actionable strategies, policy reforms, and innovative technologies to boost supply. This report draws together insights from leading experts in the field, including policymakers, researchers, and builders. Solutions to Canada’s Housing Crisis: Report
February 4, 2025 – Tackling Canada’s housing crisis requires actionable strategies, policy reforms, and innovative technologies to boost supply, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. A special policy conference report based on the Institute’s November 2024 conference, “Housing Policy for a Growing Canada,” draws together insights from leading experts in the field, including […]To Solve the Housing Affordability Crisis, Think Beyond Big Cities
January 21, 2025 – Canada cannot solve its housing affordability crisis simply by adding more homes in major centers like Toronto and Vancouver, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. Instead, the report urges policymakers to target a small set of mid-size cities and support them in becoming thriving, larger hubs which […]Ari Van Assche and Daniel Schwanen – Now, More than Ever, Canada Needs a Supply Chain Strategy
With US President-elect Donald Trump threatening to impose a 25-percent tariff on all imports from Canada as soon as he takes office, and our government poised to retaliate, Ottawa urgently needs to develop a national supply chain strategy. Glen Hodgson – Canada Post is Stuck in a Time Warp. Is There a Way Out?
From: Glen Hodgson To: Postal observers Date: December 13, 2024 Re: Canada Post is Stuck in a Time Warp. Is There a Way Out? Canada Post is a financial mess. It lost nearly $748 million in fiscal 2023, following a 2022 loss of $548 million. Annual losses began in 2018 and have now reached a […]Graph of the Week: Canada’s Housing Stock Falls Behind Population Growth
The graph shows the housing stock per 1,000 people, highlighting that, of late, population growth has outpaced the increase in available housing units. In 2015, there were 431 housing units per 1,000 Canadians, but by 2023, this ratio had bucked its typical year-over-year growth trend and fallen to 426. The faster rate of population growth […] Graph of the Week: Shifting Investments in Multi-Family vs. Single-Family Housing
The graph shows that investment in multi-family residential building construction followed a similar pattern to single-family residential buildings until the middle of 2023. Since then, multi-family residential building investment has grown while single-family investment has levelled off, with the former now comfortably above the latter in dollars invested. The question is whether this momentum in […] Graph of the Week: Canadian AI VC Investments Surpass $12.5B, Led by Finance, IT, and Business Services
Graph of the Week is a new series from the C.D. Howe Institute’s Graphic Intelligence that presents valuable and easily digestible data. Each Monday we unveil one new captivating chart or graph with interesting insights, explaining it in two-to-three sentences. Dive into the data with us.Over the past six years, more than US$12.5 billion in […] Eyquem, van Dijk and Stewart – A Clear and Overdue Path to Accounting for Natural Assets in Canada
From: Joanna Eyquem, Peter van Dijk and James K. StewartTo: Canadians Concerned about Recognizing and Valuing Natural AssetsDate: September 24, 2024Re: A Clear and Overdue Path to Accounting for Natural Assets in Canada Devastating wildfires and floods this year have highlighted the risks arising from the lack of public accountability for natural assets in Canada. […] Dahir, Robson – Cities sit on too much cash. Here’s how they could help with Canada’s housing crisis
Published in The Globe and Mail.
The short supply and high cost of housing are top-of-mind concerns for many Canadians. So it is necessary to pay more attention to the quirks of municipal financial management, as cities budget for and finance infrastructure in ways that can slow construction and raise costs.
Many of Canada’s major cities are sitting on large amounts of cash that they collected before – often years ago – the capital projects they were collected to fund are under way. If cities matched the revenues they collect more closely with the expenses they incur, we could enjoy more and less expensive housing.
Panic over cities’ budgets is an annual ritual. And when Ontario municipalities gather in Ottawa this…
Glen Hodgson – The Lessons from the Jasper Wildfire
From: Glen Hodgson To: Canadian wildfire watchers Date: August 9, 2024 Re: The Lessons from the Jasper Wildfire Climate-related disasters including massive wildfires, severe flooding, and other extreme weather are hitting multiple regions of Canada. A few weeks ago, extreme rainfall and severe flooding disrupted life in Toronto and confirmed it isn’t ready for the extreme weather associated with […]