Op-Eds
Published in The Globe and Mail.
Canadian governments are loudly zealous about protecting us from potentially addictive stuff that could hurt our physical and mental health – think of junk food, booze and other drugs, or misinformation and other online “harms.” Yet they themselves are pushing fiscal junk. The federal government’s latest – a goods and services tax holiday from mid-December to mid-February, 2025, and a $250 handout to everyone with earned income under $150,000 – is yet another feel-good move that undermines our fiscal and economic health.
As with the Ontario government’s recent pledge of a $200 handout for its taxpayers, one big question is: Will the bribe buy the government a bounce in the polls? If…
Published in The Hill Times.
It’s a good start: on Aug. 27, the federal government announced that “the Honourable Anita Anand, President of Treasury Board, will immediately set up a working group to examine productivity and inform the government’s economic plan. The working group will address barriers to achieving greater efficiencies for businesses so we can help increase productivity across the country.” Anand highlighted restrictions on internal trade and overly burdensome regulations as critical, closely linked areas that policymakers must address.
The minister is right. However, for this working group to provide real value for Canadians, we need it to produce actionable ideas that can be swiftly implemented—and not just…
Published in TVO Today.
Ontario's upcoming fall economic statement presents the Ford government with an opportunity for strategic policy announcements ahead of a possible 2025 election. Traditionally an update on the province’s fiscal outlook, this year’s FES is likely to be shaped more than usual by political considerations — for example, the government plans to issue a $200 cheque to every Ontarian.
The Ford administration faces a delicate balancing act: introducing new initiatives while keeping an eye on provincial finances amid economic uncertainties. At a minimum, the FES offers insight into the government’s fiscal outlook and reports on key policy priorities. It should also tell us whether the province is focused on…
Published in the Financial Post
As if productivity, growth, housing and health care weren’t challenges enough for Canada, an old threat is quietly re-emerging: Quebec separatism. The Parti Québécois (PQ), headed for government, is promising another referendum. The gathering storm demands attention.
In the 2018 Quebec provincial election the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) handed the PQ an historic defeat, reducing it to just 10 seats. The decades-long debate over Quebec’s place in Canada was widely assumed to have been settled, at least for this generation. But six years later the PQ is ahead in polls and its charismatic young leader promises to hold a referendum on sovereignty if elected. If an election were held today, the…
Ed Waitzer - Scammers can now use bankruptcy to dodge securities regulators’ fines. Change is needed
Published in The Globe and Mail.
Insolvency laws in Canada (as in the United States, Britain and Australia) have long enshrined the principle that bankruptcy should not assist dishonest debtors. But the Supreme Court of Canada recently determined that fraudsters are able to avoid regulatory penalties from provincial securities commissions by declaring themselves bankrupt.
It is disappointing to have a Supreme Court decision that allows swindlers to insulate themselves from key sanctions – ones that serve to deter wrongful conduct. This cries out for legislative reform.
First, though, how did this happen?
In 2014 the B.C. Securities Commission found Thalbinder Singh Poonian and Shailu Poonian guilty of fraudulent…
