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...

The amount Canadians spend on healthcare is set to rise rapidly over the next two decades and Canadians need to face up to tough choices to deal with this “spending disease.” The study examines the trajectory of total healthcare spending – public and private – in Canada and the policy...

The Canadian and American economies are inextricably intertwined through trade. As the two countries debate plans to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, policymakers in both countries must consider how emissions policies, such as an emissions trading system that sets economy-wide limits on GHG...

With many water resources overcommitted and suffering environmental degradation, it is becoming urgent to find ways to reallocate increasingly scarce water supplies to meet rising demand and growing environmental concerns. In Canada, this challenge is nowhere better illustrated than in Alberta....

Having undergone a transformation from an era of a few channels broadcast over the air to hundreds of channels available via cable or satellite, Canada's broadcasting and telecommunications sector is on the verge of another tectonic shift, say the authors, of which Internet Protocol (IP) TV is...

Canada needs a “Made-in-Canada” approach to electricity transmission that better exploits the benefits of east-west power trading. In this study, the author explains how to overcome the impediments to electricity trading that currently exist at provincial borders. To ensure continued access...

Canada lags other countries in solving the problem of spectrum scarcity amid rising demand driven by cellphones and other wireless products. In this study, the authors call for reforms to liberalize the allocation of spectrum in Canada with a market-based approach, to increase competition, for...

When politicians consider intervening in labour disputes, they should also consider the long-term, potentially unintended results of such action. In this study, the authors investigate the lessons from previous government legislative interventions, whether through compulsory arbitration,...

A key question in Canada’s pensions debate is whether Canadians will be able to maintain their living standards in retirement, and if policy needs to respond to the risk that some will experience painful declines.To date, it has been very difficult to estimate how current trends might affect...

Charging for the life cycle cost of waste management is contentious. The recent example of some retailers charging “eco-fees” in Ontario, with respect to sales of household products such as detergent, batteries and fluorescent light bulbs, is a case in point. However, the Ontario program for...