A rapidly aging population means the Atlantic provinces face the prospect of shrinking workforces as early as 2010. To stem the population pressures of tomorrow, a suite of policies – such as those that boost workforce participation and others that prefund demographically sensitive government...

Ontario’s revised plan for the tax treatment of new housing under a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is a significant improvement over its original proposal in the 2009 Budget, with lower economic cost and less impact on homebuyers’ decisions.

The authors say Quebec’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must face some key facts. First, the possibilities of an effective reduction of GHG emissions through the substitution of one energy source for another are limited in Quebec. Second, Quebec’s era of low-cost...

Every year, legislators in Canada vote for budgets that set out targets for the coming fiscal year. But every year, governments tend to spend more than they promise at budget time. The result: accountability between legislators and voters breaks down. Canadians should demand better.

Fear of lawsuits may inhibit employers from steering employees into defined-contribution pension plans and RRSPs, and from guiding them into sensible choices for investing and withdrawing their money. Safe-harbour provisions that reduced this threat would help employers act in good faith to...

Near-term turbulence should not distract Ottawa budget-makers from critical long-term tasks. This 2008 shadow federal budget will move Canada a key step forward by providing improved incentives and rewards for Canadians' work and saving, and a more congenial environment for investment and...

Most federal and provincial government benefits for families with children are sharply income-tested. Reductions in these benefits, as family income rises, mean that low-income families face much higher effective tax rates than most others do, and deny such families the full benefit of the...

The federal government proposes to impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions by large industrial emitters. But under what authority could Parliament implement the regulations?

Gaps in education levels between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals are a great social policy challenge for Canada. On-reserve, a smart approach to closing them would be the creation of Aboriginal-run school districts, independent of individual band councils. Off-reserve, the provinces should build...

Is there competition between publicly funded Catholic and public schools for students in Ontario? And, if so, does competition improve education quality?