Op-Eds
Published in the Globe and Mail on December 2nd, 2014
By: William Robson
William B.P. Robson is president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute. He is co-author of ‘Baffling Budgets: Canada’s Cities Need Better Financial Reporting’.
A common complaint during Toronto’s municipal election campaign was that nobody could make sense of the numbers. In fact, this is not a new problem: municipal budgets are mystifying. Incoming mayor John Tory and the freshly elected council can help that situation by presenting a budget that, unlike the current presentations, would let people straightforwardly measure intentions against results. If they did, future financial debates would make more sense – and Toronto would tax and spend…
Published in the National Post on May 22, 2015
By William Robson
William Robson is president and CEO of the C. D. Howe Institute.
Economists may not be known for sartorial style, but they do have their fads. Influential ones, too — affecting our lives and livelihoods more than ups and downs in hemlines or the changing width of lapels. Among the more durable economic fashions has been the habit of measuring the national economy using flows of activity: GDP and related indicators.
GDP has its uses. But it’s time the economic paparazzi directed their cameras at GDP’s counterpart, used to measure the country’s stock of wealth: Canada’s national balance sheet. Though far from complete, it addresses such…
Published in the Toronto Star on January 15, 2014
By Benjamin Dachis and William B.P. Robson
January is budget season at Toronto city hall. The debate in council is getting louder — but no more enlightening.
As councillors and the mayor trade barbs about whether Toronto taxes and spends too much or too little, it might seem natural to ask how this year’s proposed budget compares to last year’s results. Will we spend more or less? Or to ask how last year’s results compare to the budget council approved a year ago. Did the city hit its targets? Weirdly, however, those are questions almost no one can answer.
Lots of organizations — governments, businesses, not-for-profits — produce budgets at the…
Published in the Globe and Mail on October 29, 2013
By Christopher Ragan
The federal government has recently announced its intention to legislate a requirement for balanced budgets. Hard-core fiscal conservatives love this idea because they believe it is desirable to restrict the spending powers, and thus the size, of government. Unfortunately, such legislation is either ineffective or ends up creating bigger problems than it solves. Genuine fiscal responsibility cannot be achieved through simple legislation.
Before proceeding, let me come clean. I share the belief of many fiscal conservatives that large and persistent budget deficits can be a serious problem, and that genuine troubles are created when…
Posted in the National Post on March 20, 2013
By Finn Poschmann and Philippe Bergevin
The irony of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s hounding of bank mortgage lenders, for advertising competitive market terms, should be lost on none. Perhaps he believes lenders will extend daft, risky loans, or that low market interest rates will tease borrowers into taking on debt they can ill afford. In Ottawa, however, risky lending begins at home: Federal Crown financial corporations, for which Mr. Flaherty’s government is responsible, beat the market competition every time.
Today’s budget, and the next one, are opportunities to do something about it. By expanding on Budget 2012, which took steps toward reining in the market‘…
