The Drummond report claims that Ontario is headed for a $30-billion deficit. This figure has been widely and uncritically reported. For example, The Globe and Mail printed four articles featuring this number in its February 18 edition. The Ontario government projected a balanced budget with a $1-billion contingency reserve by…
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This morning, there are more than 65 000 students on strike in Québec. University students, but also college-level students, are walking out of classrooms to reverse the 75% raise in tuition fees over five years announced in the last provincial budget. In the space of a single week, the number…
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This guest blog was written by Mike Marin and Anouk Dey. It originally appeared in the Toronto Star on February 24. The authors are part of a team that produced the report Prospering Together (in English and in French). What do the Occupy Movement and Canadian software giant OpenText have in…
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Canada is one Senate vote away from becoming the most regressive Western democracy on criminal justice. That unenviable position has most recently been occupied by the United States. But even though some of the most conservative Republicans are now arguing against over-incarceration, Canada continues to pursue that objective. Americans have…
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In September 2010, New Brunswick voters elected a majority Conservative government, led by David Alward. Since being elected, this government has pursued the twin illusions of low taxes and public service cuts. These strategies have served only to undermine the province’s ability to invest in essential programs while promoting the…
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The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) today came out today with their own GDP and jobs impact estimates from the $8 billion in federal cuts. They project 116,000 jobs lost and a $10 billion hit to the national economy. Readers will recall that I made my own estimates of…
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The just introduced Internet snooping legislation is causing concern among some mainstream Conservative government supporters. Since its introduction on Valentine’s Day, it has been questioned, denounced, and/or criticized well beyond the privacy, human rights and civil liberties communities. “Licence to snoop,” the editorial in The National Post and comments of concern…
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In the Commission report that bears his name, and in all of his media appearances since its release, Banker Don Drummond has ably played the disinterested expert, taking no pleasure in sharing the “gloomy message” he has for Ontario. From the way most TV hosts and journalists have rushed forward…
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The Harvard International Review has posted an interview with Don Drummond. I have posted the following response: It is good Drummond confesses that his free-market policy prescriptions failed to improve productivity, but old habits apparently die hard: “We have an Employment Insurance scheme that basically dissuades people from going where…
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An interesting nugget in last week’s Drummond report is Table 11.1, an updated version of Table 2 from “Ontario’s Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth” (2009). It provides a sectoral breakdown of the McGuinty government’s recent business tax breaks: HST input tax credits, cutting the corporate income tax, and eliminating the…
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