Gillian Brown – The Need For More Gender Diversity In Investment Management
To: Canada’s investment community From: Gillian Brown Date: March 6, 2020 Re: The need for more gender diversity in Investment Management I lead the Capital Markets team at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, a big job with lots of responsibility and risk. It’s fair to assume that careful thought went into who should be leading this […] Supporting Growth, Restoring Confidence: A Shadow Federal Budget for 2020
Federal Budget Must Spur Growth, Restore Confidence Ottawa must support economic growth and restore Canadians’ confidence in the country’s fiscal management, according to the C.D. Howe Institute’s annual Federal Shadow Budget. Authors William B.P. Robson and Alexandre Laurin show Ottawa could balance federal finances by 2025 through a combination of measures to boost growth and […] Federal Budget Must Spur Growth, Restore Confidence
Ottawa must support economic growth and restore Canadians’ confidence in the country’s fiscal management by charting a path to balance, says the C.D. Howe Institute’s annual Federal Shadow Budget. In “Supporting Growth, Restoring Confidence: A Shadow Federal Budget for 2020,” authors…Jon Johnson – Combatting Climate Change With Carbon Border Taxes: Good Or Bad Idea?
From: Jon Johnson To: Canadians Concerned About Climate Change Date: March 5, 2020 Re: Combatting Climate Change with Carbon Border Taxes – Good or Bad Idea? European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposes a “carbon border tax” to “avoid carbon leakage.” Bernie Sanders advocates a “carbon intensity fee” (i.e., a carbon border tax) on […] There’s a better barometer for determining Canadians’ financial fragility – Financial Post Op-ed
Over the past 25 years, Canadians’ household debt has increased steadily as a share of their disposable income. During this time, and especially since the financial crisis, they have often been told their debt levels were unsustainable and that a day of reckoning was fast approaching. And yet that day has not come. One reason why seems clear: for the most part over the past 25 years, the amount Canadians spend servicing their debt has not changed as a percentage of their disposable income.
In a recent C.D. Howe Commentary, we argue that it is primarily this “debt service ratio” (interest payments plus reimbursement of principal divided by disposable income) that determines households’ ability to make their payments at…
Edward Glaeser – Solving The Housing Price Crisis, Part II
From: Edward Glaeser To: Canadians concerned about housing prices Date: March 4, 2020 Re: Solving the Housing Price Crisis, Part II The regulations and structures around housing markets are essentially rigged against the millennial generation trying to break in to the market. They protect existing homeowners against both the nuisance of new construction, any potential negative side effects of […] Kronick, Omran – Coronavirus And Supply-side Shocks
To: Fiscal Policymakers From: Jeremy M. Kronick and Farah Omran Date: February 28, 2020 Re: Coronavirus and Supply-side Shocks The news on coronavirus seems to be getting worse each day. Policymakers have rightly been focused on the health of Canadians. Meanwhile, fear has reached financial markets, which have been shedding points at alarming rates the […] There is No Try: Sustainable Healthcare Requires Reining in Spending Overshoots
Provincial and territorial governments must hit their budget targets better to make publicly funded healthcare fiscally sustainable, warns a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “There is No Try: Sustainable Healthcare Requires Reining in Spending Overshoots,” William B.P. Robson compares the preliminary and later numbers in National Health Expenditure (NHEX) reports from the […] Health Spending Overshoots Threaten Sustainability
Provincial and territorial governments must hit their budget targets better to make publicly funded healthcare fiscally sustainable, warns a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “There is No Try: Sustainable Healthcare Requires Reining in Spending Overshoots,” William B.P. Robson…There should not be a U-turn on Alberta’s fiscal journey – Calgary Herald Op-Ed
Alberta’s government will table its 2020-21 budget on Feb. 27. Its previous budget in October mapped out the government’s fiscal path to return to budget balance by 2022-23, including annual spending targets by program area. The government’s freeze on topline program spending translates into real per capita reductions in spending, particularly in health and education.
These targets are necessary to bring Alberta’s program spending in-line with nationwide benchmarks and to return Alberta to a sustainable fiscal path. However, while the government laid out its long-term plan in October, this budget must clearly specify measures for restructuring spending.
The challenge will be to implement spending reductions in the face of…
Bank of Canada Should Cut Overnight Rate to 1.50 Percent Next Week and to 1.25 in April: C.D. Howe Institute Monetary Policy Council
February 27, 2020 – The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC) recommends that the Bank of Canada lower its target for the overnight rate, its benchmark policy interest rate, to 1.50 percent next week. The MPC further recommends that the Bank cut again at its next announcement in April, to 1.25 percent, and hold the target there until early 2021.
The MPC provides an independent assessment of the monetary stance consistent with the Bank of Canada’s 2 percent inflation target. William Robson, the Institute’s President and CEO, chairs the Council. Council members make recommendations for the Bank of Canada’s upcoming interest-rate announcement, the subsequent announcement, and the announcements six months…
David Johnson – Time Travelling In The Ontario Elementary School System
From: David Johnson To: Ontarians concerned about class sizes Date: February 27, 2020 Re: Time travelling in the Ontario elementary school system How much has instructional staffing changed in the Ontario elementary public school system? Time travel, a staple of books and film, provides insight. Ontario’s elementary students are taught by two categories of teachers: full-time teachers (FT); […]