Atlantic Canada is experiencing fiscal challenges, with limited revenues and high spending by provincial governments. Unfortunately, many critics believe that minor spending cuts amount to austerity measures. This is false. European countries like Greece and Portugal have experienced real austerity, cutting their budgets by 25 percent after the Great Recession. Every Atlantic province [...]
The size and cost of public sector employment has a major effect on a government’s bottom line. Atlantic Canada's provincial governments currently employ 96 people per 1,000 residents. Across Canada, the average size of provincial public sectors is 83 per thousand, or 16 per cent less than in our region. Employing far more [...]
Governments in Atlantic Canada are over-spending on public education. A new study shows that between 2004 and 2014, the provinces spent significantly more money, even as enrollment went down. Adjusted for price changes, Atlantic Canada’s per-student subsidies increased 27 percent over a decade, amounting to about 2,700 more per child. It is unclear [...]
Advocates of higher minimum wages in Atlantic Canada want to help low-income workers. But artificially forcing up wages can actually hurt those employed in low-wage jobs. A new study has found that workers earned less money after Seattle hiked its minimum wage in 2015. Though some workers made more per hour, fewer workers [...]
For nearly 150 years, the constitution has enshrined free trade in Canadian law. Yet to this day, the provinces maintain regulatory hurdles and import bans that restrict the free flow of goods within Canada. These policies may help local interests, but they jeopardize the national economy, drive up costs, and burden consumers. Markets [...]
The federal government is considering a tax exemption for online purchases from the United States under $200. No doubt, this idea emanates from popular frustration with high taxes. Burdened consumers justifiably want a break. Unfortunately, this proposal would be bad policy. As more people shop on American retail websites, government revenues will be [...]
Great Britain is a model for sound economic policy. Since 2010, the UK has created more jobs than the rest of the European Union combined. Today, the unemployment rate is 4.9 percent, an eleven-year low. To achieve this success, British governments respond quickly to stormy economic clouds. When the economy slows, they cut [...]
Annual benefits from the Canada Pension Plan will rise by as much as $4,500. To finance this expansion, Ottawa and provincial governments have decided to increase payroll taxes. Workers and employers already pay up to $5,088 in CPP taxes each year. Rates will begin to gradually increase in 2019. By 2023, workers will [...]
New Brunswick and P.E.I. are proposing changes to how we vote. Both provincial governments have discussed changing the current, first-past-the-post electoral system to an alternative means of electing our representatives. Another consideration is e-voting, which would allow residents to vote through an online portal. And both provinces may lower the minimum voting age [...]
The federal government has agreed to increase immigration in Atlantic Canada by 2,000 people, to fill job vacancies and alleviate outmigration. This policy would roughly double the region’s current migrant intake. Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe that their plan will work. More immigrants will come, but will they stay? If our [...]