Munir A. Sheikh – Cure for the Public Debt Pandemic: An Economic-Principles-Based Fiscal Anchor
To: Canadian fiscal observers From: Munir A. Sheikh Date: January 31, 2024 Re: Cure for the Public Debt Pandemic: An Economic-Principles-Based Fiscal Anchor Governments across the world are drowning in debt and Canada at $1.2 trillion is no exception. Economic theory provides two fundamental fiscal policy principles to tackle such fiscal problems. First, a government should follow a […] Munir A. Sheikh – The Question isn’t “Do We Need Tax Reform?” It is “What Kind?”
To: Canadian Fiscal Observers From: Munir A. Sheikh Date: January 30, 2024 Re: The Question isn’t “Do we need tax reform?” It is “What kind?” Fifty years ago, the Carter Commission recommended comprehensive tax reform whose unifying vision was an ideal tax system. His principal objective was equity, followed by a secondary objective of the reform’s impact on the […] This year, the West will fight China in the epic electric-vehicle trade war – Globe and Mail
Standing back and looking at today’s global trading picture, one can see that it’s not pretty – destabilized by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, by the unsettled multilateral situation at the World Trade Organization and by innumerable regional trade disputes.
Most important among the issues, though, is the looming clash between the West and China over electric vehicles (EVs), which is set to dominate this year’s trade agenda.
This fight is shaping up to be an epic battle, covering a wide swath of minerals critical to EV production and with implications reaching deep into national decarbonization policies and supply chains, not only for the Canadian automotive industry but for a large array of businesses…
Lawrence P. Schwartz – StatsCan Data Enriches Competition Surveys: Let’s Have More, Please
To: Canada’s Competition Law Community From: Lawrence P. Schwartz Date: January 29, 2024 Re: StatsCan Data Enriches Competition Surveys: Let’s Have More, Please The Competition Bureau’s recent study on competition finds that “competitive intensity” decreased from 2000 to 2020. Does this important study deal adequately with the available Canadian research and the continuing questions about competition policy? In one […] Tingting Zhang – How to Solve the Canadian Work Experience Hiring Conundrum
To: Labour force observers From: Tingting Zhang Date: January 26, 2024 Re: How to Solve the Canadian Work Experience Hiring Conundrum Immigrants contribute to Canada’s economy in many ways, but the country fails to utilize their talents to their full potential. For newcomers, requirements for Canadian work experience are a significant hindrance to their integration into the labour […] Alberta’s Energy Woes with Kent Fellows
The Deep Freeze has put Albertans on notice: The fear of rolling blackouts is real. As a recent massive cold front from the Northwest Territories that flooded the province and its neighbours led to concerns about its citizens’ ability to keep the lights on, and the furnaces too. Kent Fellows, a C.D. Howe Institute Fellow-In-Residence, […] Time to Reboot: The Federal ZEV Mandate Requires Flexibility
The federal government has proposed regulations requiring the sale of a minimum numbers of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) in Canada (20 percent of all light vehicles in 2026, ramping up to 60 percent in 2030 and 100 percent in 2035). The flip side of this requirement is that the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) […] Targets for Zero Emission Vehicles Need Flexibility
The federal government’s 2035 Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate needs a reboot since forecasted vehicle sales and supply will not meet Ottawa’s targets, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Time to Reboot: The Federal ZEV Mandate Requires…Gullo and Exner-Pirot – Improving Canada’s Competitiveness
From: Michael Gullo and Heather Exner-Pirot To: Ministerial Working Group on Regulatory Efficiency for Clean Growth Projects Date: January 25, 2024 Re: Improving Canada’s competitiveness Canadian workers, industry and the federal government share a common goal of a strong economy and a healthy environment. This includes building infrastructure to support a low carbon energy system, as well as increasing […] The old bank and the Red Sea: Bank of Canada must address threat of geopolitics – Globe and Mail
The Bank of Canada again held its target for the overnight rate at 5 per cent on Wednesday, as expected.
The clamoring had begun for the bank to consider dropping rates in hopes that inflation is headed back to 2 per cent. However, the latest numbers (for December) disappointed, with headline inflation ticking back up to 3.4 per cent (from 3.1 per cent), and core measures flat or, in the case of CPI-Trim, slightly higher. On Wednesday, the bank stressed upside risks to inflation coming from greater-than-expected persistence.
However, the announcement did not mention geopolitical risks, particularly the effect of the disruption of maritime traffic in the Red Sea, its impact on shipping costs, and the knock-on effects on…
Benjamin Dachis – Unbalanced Burden: The Case Against High Property Tax Rates on Multi-Residential Buildings in Ontario
To: Ontario’s Ministers of Finance and Municipal Affairs and Housing cc: Association of Municipalities of Ontario; City of Toronto From: Benjamin Dachis Date: January 24, 2024 Re: Unbalanced Burden: The Case Against High Property Tax Rates on Multi-Residential Buildings in Ontario Should a renter only be able to use half the number of municipal roads as […]William B.P. Robson – Toronto’s Annual Budget Panic Ignores Its Surplus
From: William B.P. Robson To: Toronto budget watchers Date: January 23, 2024 Re: Toronto’s Annual Budget Panic Ignores Its Surplus The annual panic over the City of Toronto budget is peaking. The 2024 version stands out in a bad way, with a double-digit tax increase proposed for homeowners and many businesses. Yet much of the ritual is familiar. […]