Marcel Saulnier – Getting on with National Pharmacare
From: Marcel Saulnier To: Canadians Concerned About Healthcare Date: November 29, 2023 Re: Getting on with National Pharmacare Over four years ago, the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare set out a roadmap to address one of the most significant areas of unfinished business in Canadian medicare. Fast forward to the end of 2023, and there […] Lawrence Herman – Canada’s Digital Tax Ship Still Sails Even as Rollout is Delayed
From: Lawrence Herman To: Canadian trade observers Date: November 28, 2023 Re: Canada’s Digital Tax Ship Still Sails Even as Rollout is Delayed The Fall Economic Statement confirmed the federal government’s intention to eventually proceed with its Digital Services Tax (DST), a measure proposed back in 2020, even as it postponed its January 1 implementation. Under the proposal, Ottawa […] Fall Economic Statement gets a D. Re-write needed before March – Financial Post
Before the release of the federal 2023 Fall Economic Statement, we laid out a framework for grading it. We hoped for transparency about the government’s finances, frankness about the economic and fiscal challenges, and a halt to populist tax measures. Sadly, the Statement presented by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland falls short — often far short — on all these priorities.
Our overall grade for the 2023 Fall Statement is a D. It puts dozens of pages of political messaging ahead of the key numbers, avoids the serious challenges that require major shifts in policy and prefigures more of the same fiscal measures that have led to our current plight.
Our grading framework started with a simple request: Cut…
Structuring Success: Canada’s Competition Act Must Remain Effects-based
The C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council (the Council) met on Friday, October 13, 2023, to debate the calls for bright-line rules and presumptions, and whether such proposals are an appropriate approach to competition law enforcement that would effectively address issues of affordability and lagging productivity in Canada.
The tabling of a Private Member’s Bill on September 18, 2023, by Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, titled Lowering Prices for Canadians ActOn September 18, 2023, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh introduced Bill C-352, a Private Member’s Bill which includes, among other amendments, proposals to introduce market-share thresholds into the merger review process of the …
Canada’s Competition Act Must Remain Effects-Based: Competition Policy Council
Canada’s Competition Act must remain effects-based, and the Standing Committee on Finance must exercise caution reviewing the legal test for abuse of dominance, according to a new Communiqué from the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council. In its…Werner Antweiler – Unpacking the Real Sources of Rising Food Prices
From: Werner Antweiler To: Food price observers Date: November 27, 2023 Re: Unpacking the Real Sources of Rising Food Prices Consumers are complaining about high food prices, and indeed food prices have risen sharply since the end of the pandemic. Politicians have taken up the complaints. Liberals in Parliament have singled out record profits of grocery chains and the lack of […] Canada’s worst fiscal crisis in generations is brewing – Full Comment
The financial trouble the Trudeau Liberals have put Canada in looks disturbingly unlike previous debt and deficit hangovers, as William Robson tells Brian Lilley this week. The losses Ottawa has pushed onto the Bank of Canada are choking off desperately needed income, explains Robson, president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute. Wages are losing […]Nuclear power and LNG are key to a low-carbon future – Financial Post Op-Ed
The national conversation about net-zero has tended to focus on renewable forms of energy, such as wind and solar, both of which have important roles to play in future. But nuclear energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) have also emerged as pragmatic drivers on the road toward a low-carbon future. Each has its own unique advantages.
Nuclear stands out as a reliable source of base-load electricity. Unlike wind and solar installations, which produce much less energy than their rated capacities when, respectively, the wind isn’t blowing or the sun shining, nuclear reactors can operate more or less indefinitely at close to capacity output. That ensures a stable energy supply, offsetting the intermittency associated…
Mario Polèse – Quebec’s soft rent control. A delicate balancing act.
From: Mario Polèse To: Housing Observers Date: November 24, 2023 Re: Quebec’s soft rent control. A delicate balancing act. Aside from serial bombing, the most efficient technique for destroying a city is rent control, Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck once famously said. If rents are capped, why invest in new houses or maintain older ones if costs cannot be […]Capital Gains and Charitable Donations: The Silent Targets of Federal AMT Reforms
This E-Brief analyzes the expected fiscal and behavioural consequences of the significant reforms proposed for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) in the 2023 federal budget. The 2023 budget asserts that the “AMT will more precisely target the very wealthy.” Our findings indicate that the new AMT regime will primarily fall on individuals who report occasional […]