Canadians can be proud of their country's relatively strong recovery from the 2009 slump, but should not be complacent. Canada's fiscal situation is strong only by comparison with the dire situations in other major advanced countries. Our national saving rate is too low to support needed...

Governments are major employers, and many provide defined benefit pension plans with full inflation indexing and generous early retirement provisions. Hence, changes in thinking about, and accounting for, the costs of defined benefit pension plans have major implications for government finances....

Many retirees face dramatic erosion of their savings due to outdated government rules, says a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Outliving Our Savings: Registered Retirement Income Funds Rules Need a Big Update,” authors Alexandre Laurin and William Robson urge the government to re-visit...

Defined-benefit (DB) pension plans have been in trouble in recent years, largely because their sponsors have tended to underestimate their liabilities. As Canadians saving for retirement in registered retirement saving plans and defined-contribution pension plans have begun to realize, low...

In June 2012, the regulatory framework for a promising new retirement savings vehicle, Pooled Registered Pension Plans (PRPPs), was passed into Canadian federal legislation. The hope is that PRPPs will improve pension coverage and retirement-saving outcomes by reducing costs and improving...

The top 1 percent of earners reacted strongly to the federal tax hike on high earners 2016, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Unhappy Returns: A Preliminary Estimate of Taxpayers Responsiveness to the 2016 Top Tax Rate Hike,” author Alexandre Laurin finds the...

The pandemic has kicked Canadian government debt to high levels. Federal and provincial budget plans could well see it go higher for decades and even generations. The 2021 federal budget demonstrates the sensitivity and fragility of Canada’s fiscal prospects. In this E-Brief, we explore...

The Federal Government’s spending and borrowing cushioned the impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s economy, but have put national finances on an unsustainable path. The upcoming budget must make tough choices to put Canada on a path back to fiscal stability. As the health crisis abates, Canada...