While the sagging economy is focusing attention on fiscal policy’s capacity to fight a slump, another challenge looms – the demographic pressures on future program spending. Short-term stimulus can only succeed if it preserves confidence in the long-run capacity of Canadian governments to...

The impacts of demographic change on Canada's fiscal landscape will be profound, and as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, they are no longer far away. If current patterns of spending in age-sensitive public programs - healthcare, education, elderly and children's benefits - persist...