The 2015 edition of the C.D. Howe Institute’s annual Shadow Federal Budget lays out a prudent fiscal course in the face of a challenging world economic environment, bolstering the confidence of Canadians in the sustainability of their public finances. It supports economic growth with tax...

The Commentary released today its 2011 federal Shadow Budget with a five-step plan to end the flow of red ink in Ottawa ahead of the government’s five-year timeline. In this paper, the authors show how Ottawa can return to budget surpluses in four years through more ambitious spending...

The 2014 edition of the C.D. Howe Institute’s annual Shadow Federal Budget reinforces Ottawa’s near-term focus on returning to budgetary surplus, and presents a number of measures to foster growth in living standards over the longer term. Prudent forecasting and greater transparency in...

Control over public money is fundamental to democratic government, and presents huge challenges to legislators and taxpayers. Getting the information needed to answer simple questions such as how planned spending in the upcoming year compares to actual results in the prior year can be hard, and...

Can Canada improve on its successful monetary order based on a 2 percent inflation target when it expires in 2011? Yes – better price measures, a lower inflation or price-level target, and stronger accountability could better preserve the value of Canadians’ money.

More and younger immigrants cannot, on their own, offset the impact of low past fertility on Canadian workforce growth, old-age dependency, and incomes per person. Later retirement, higher fertility, and faster productivity growth are more powerful tools to ease the stress of demographic change...

Attempts to shore up the classic single-employer, defined-benefit pension plan are the wrong response to Canada’s occupational pension problems. While tax and regulatory changes can help, Canadians need a new approach to retirement income that will pool risks, control costs, and avoid the...

In nearly all Canada’s major municipalities, what should be a simple exercise – comparing the spending city council votes in its annual budget with the actual spending reported at year-end – will baffle any but the most expert reader. While most of Canada’s federal and provincial...

Financial instruments indexed to the general price level are of great potential use to borrowers and lenders alike. But up until recently, they have been relatively scarce – in part because private borrowers dislike offering protection against inflation that they do not control. Since the...

With annual spending of about $4.5 billion dollars in 2010, Canada’s largest drug plan – the Ontario Drug Program (ODB) – will become harder to afford as the babyboomers age and workforce growth slows. A business-as-usual approach to funding the plan, which provides publicly funded drug...