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...

Each spring, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial legislatures vote budgets that set out their spending and revenue goals for the fiscal year. Budget votes are critical for holding governments accountable to legislators, and in turn to voters and taxpayers. Over the last decade,...

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...

As Canadians saving for retirement are becoming painfully aware, rates of return on investment are much lower than they used to be. As a result, providing a given income in retirement now requires much more saving. Low returns are depressing incomes from RRSPs and defined-contribution pension...

Canada’s governments have regularly missed budget spending and revenue targets during the last decade. Taken together, the spending overruns of federal, provincial and territorial governments have surpassed $53 billion in the last 10 years. If budget targets were met more accurately, current...

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...

In theory, management of public funds by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments reflects the preferences Canadians express through their elected representatives. In practice, the revenues and expenses that Canada’s senior governments report after year-end, and the resulting...

Recent figures on Canada’s stock of capital and new business investment are worrying. Canada’s capital stock is not keeping pace with its workforce. New business investment per worker is declining. Not only have areas of traditional strength in Canadian business investment –...

Canada’s municipalities deliver services that are critical to quality of life, and require major commitments of resources in taxes, fees and intergovernmental transfers. But their budgeting practices, and people’s ability to measure their municipality’s performance against its budget...

Spending control and greater reliance on their own revenues are more promising responses to provincial budget pressures than higher federal transfers, according to a new report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Adaptability, Accountability and Sustainability: Intergovernmental...