Government spending overruns and missed revenue targets remain a common occurrence in Canada. Countrywide, spending overruns by the federal, provincial and territorial governments over the past decade exceeded $70 billion, limiting debt reduction and tax relief in earlier years, and materially...

The Commentary released today its 2011 federal Shadow Budget with a five-step plan to end the flow of red ink in Ottawa ahead of the government’s five-year timeline. In this paper, the authors show how Ottawa can return to budget surpluses in four years through more ambitious spending...

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...