Looking Ahead with Andrew Coyne
What will 2023 bring for inflation, the housing market and healthcare? In episode one of the C.D. Howe Institute Podcast’s fifth season, the Globe & Mail’s Andrew Coyne joins host Michael Hainsworth for insight into the year ahead.
Andrew Sancton – Putting a Lid on Development Charges
From: Andrew Sancton To: Canadian Housing Watchers Date: December 9, 2022 Re: Putting a Lid on Development Charges “Growth should pay for growth.” This slogan – the common justification for development charges – is rarely challenged in municipal circles. Development charges evolved from post-1945 subdivision agreements and were initially accepted by most developers as a mechanism for enhancing the […]Canada’s Small Enterprises Hampered by Costly Financing
In this edition of Graphic Intelligence, we compare Canada’s lending conditions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to that of a set of OECD countries we are often measured against. Canadian small and medium businesses pay a premium for financing relative to SMEs in other OECD countries. Canada’s SMEs face numerous challenges that impede their ability to scale up. […] Tax Support for R&D and Intellectual Property: Time for Some Bold Moves
Ottawa’s Review of the SR&ED Credit Needs Bolder Thinking Ottawa’s review of the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program is welcome news, but bolder thinking is needed to substantially improve the effectiveness of the tax credit, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Tax Support for R&D and Intellectual Property: […] Grootendorst, Moradpour – Resurrecting Connaught Labs not the Answer for Vaccine Self-Sufficiency
From: Paul Grootendorst and Javad Moradpour To: Public Health Agency of Canada Date: July 14, 2022 Re: Resurrecting Connaught Labs not the Answer for Vaccine Self-Sufficiency The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on Canada’s preparedness for the next pandemic, especially in terms of vaccine development and self-sufficiency. The mad scramble for vaccines early last year led many politicians, […] Canada’s economy is decapitalizing – Financial Post Op-Ed
Yet another alarming inflation number from Statistics Canada — 7.7 per cent from May to May — has underlined that something is seriously wrong with Canada’s economy. Prices are rising fast because spending is rising fast while production is not. The capacity of our economy to produce is flatlining because business investment has been so weak that the stock of productive capital per worker is falling. If we do not turn that around, the outlook for real growth in living standards in the coming months, years and decades is bleak.
The basic problem is chronically low business investment, which has been the highlight — or lowlight — of Statistics Canada’s quarterly GDP reports for several years now. The cumulative effect of low rates…
Drummond, Sinclair – Why is Health Human Resource Planning Not Happening?
From: Don Drummond and Duncan Sinclair To: Canada’s Ministers of Health Date: May 26, 2022 Re: Why is Health Human Resource Planning Not Happening? Many groups have recently awakened to the need to plan ahead to ensure the supply of qualified providers to meet the changing health and healthcare needs of Canada’s population. We need to embed the use […] Robson, Laurin – Ottawa’s Spending Addiction: $2 Billion More Each Month
From: William B.P. Robson and Alexandre Laurin To: Canadian Debt Watchers Date: April 29, 2022 Re: Ottawa’s Spending Addiction: $2 Billion More Each Month “Build back better!” We have heard that a lot since COVID hit – mainly from advocates for government spending, who saw pandemic-related fiscal stimulus, financed by central bank bond purchases, as suddenly making things […] Benjamin Dachis – Supply Constraints Drive Housing Prices Spikes
From: Benjamin Dachis To: Steve Clark, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Date: April 1, 2022 Re: Supply Constraints Drive Housing Prices Spikes This week’s announcement from the Ontario government of their planned actions on housing shows more is still needed to truly solve the housing cost crisis. And the Union of British Columbia […] Milton, Kerr-Wilson, Burbank – Time to Repave the Information Highway
From: Leslie Milton, Jay Kerr-Wilson and Paul Burbank To: François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Date: February 11, 2022 Re: Time to Repave the Information Highway Next-generation broadband networks are key enablers of Canada’s future economic and social prosperity. The new 5G technology is expected to be transformative; adding billions of dollars to Canada’s gross domestic product, […]Under Water: Where is the flood insurance coverage? – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
The recent terrible B.C. floods have confirmed how unprepared we are for climate change and severe weather events. The extensive damage in British Columbia has been in the spotlight; a similar event in another province would have many of the same disastrous consequences. The federal and B.C. governments announced this week they will spend $228-million to help affected farmers and their communities return to normal production activity.
What can be done to help protect the value of physical assets from climate risk – specifically housing and commercial buildings? More universal access to flood insurance is the most obvious risk-management tool, along with significant investment in public infrastructure to build resilience. However…
Building Bridges for 5G: How to Overcome the Infrastructure Barriers to Deployment of Canada’s Next-Generation Broadband Networks
Next-generation broadband networks are poised to be key enablers of Canada’s future economic and social prosperity. 5G alone is expected to be transformative, generating billions in additional gross domestic product, thousands of jobs, and myriad social benefits.Expedient deployment of these networks and realization of the economic and social benefits they will produce depend on timely […]