Canada is on the cusp of a new chapter in its monetary history. The emergence of crypto assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins, such as Facebook’s Diem, offer the promise of major gains in the efficiency and safety with which Canadians pay for goods and services and invest their savings. But a...

With Toronto City Council due to discuss an increase in the land transfer tax (LTT) on highend homes at an upcoming meeting, this independent analysis of the impacts of such a move is intended to help inform the deliberations. In this E-Brief, we evaluate the economic cost of raising LTT...

The Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada will renew their inflation targeting agreement later this year, and a number of proposals have come forward for expanding the mandate of monetary policy beyond its central goal of achieving and preserving price stability. These proposals include...

In this E-Brief, we focus on the well-established link between regulation/policy and productivity, and explore the regulatory and policy changes needed to boost Canada’s overall and financial services productivity. We look at specific regulations and policies that hinder productivity growth...

Over a recent four-year period, Canadians paid $50 billion per year in premiums to insurers for property and casualty insurance, which includes liability, property and auto. The purpose of this Commentary is to seek to answer several core questions. How does Canada benchmark relative to its...

Leading up to the Bank of Canada’s 2021 renewal of its agreement with the government of Canada, this Commentary evaluates alternatives to the Bank’s current inflation-targeting agreement, and recommends that the agreement continue in its present form. The important elements of monetary...

The Bank of Canada’s mandate is to target an inflation rate of 2 percent, but financial instability can have important effects on economic activity, which can influence the Bank’s ability to hit that target. The concern is that monetary policy and financial stability might work at...

Automation, digital innovation, globalization and demographic shifts have been reshaping the labor market, leading to some long-term structural changes and redefining the skills required to maintain a productive workforce – a trend that has been amplified by the effects of the COVID-19...

Homebuyers in Canadian cities face a multitude of taxes and charges that increase the cost of buying a home. Government policies whose affect is to limit the supply of the kinds of homes people want and can afford are among the key causes of higher property prices. Restrictions on housing supply...

In Budget 2018, the federal government announced that it would review the merits of open banking. In January 2020, the Advisory Committee on Open Banking determined that the benefits of open banking outweighed the cost and what was needed was a plan for implementation. In this Commentary, we...