Interprovincial trade barriers are a drag on Canadian productivity and send an embarrassing message to international investors.Despite some past progress in reducing them, they remain an irritant to our economic union. Trade liberalization as pursued by Alberta and British Columbia in the TILMA...

This paper provides an interpretive synopsis of the results of a conference on inflation-induced distortions in financial reporting and taxation held in October 1981 at the height of the post-war inflation. It provides analysis of the magnitudes of the likely distortions in reporting and...

This paper reviews the issues that would arise if Quebec were to separate from Canada. It also presents quantitative estimates of the likely orders of magnitude of their economic impact both on Quebec and the Rest of Canada. Its overall conclusion is that Quebec would be much harder hit than the...

This paper argues that the two-percentage point cut in the GST to 5 per cent proposed by the Conservatives in the January 2006 Canadian federal election and implemented in the 2007 budget was not “stupid” as suggested by many economists. To the contrary, it fortuitously turned out to provide...

This paper discusses the pros and cons of establishing a system of indexed bonds as a means of assisting employers in the event that governments (federal and/or provincial) should require them to adjust pension payments under the pension plans for inflation. The main body of this paper is...

This paper, which draws on the author's book "The Economic Consequences of Quebec Sovereignty," examines the thorny issue of how the existing Canadian federal debt might be redistributed in the event that Quebec were to become a sovereign nation. Debt division would be at best a "zero sum" game...