April 2020
Newfoundland and Labrador faces fiscal crisis, other provinces should take note
By Ben Eisen and Alex Whalen Among the many challenges emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, a worrying story has emerged from Newfoundland and Labrador and other provincial governments across the country should take notice.On March [...]
March 2020
Employers must be allowed to temporarily lay off workers during COVID crisis
Appeared in National Newswatch, March 27, 2020 By Alex Whalen and Niels Veldhuis Aside from the enormous health-related challenges due to the COVID-19 virus, employers and workers are feeling major economic pain with job loss, [...]
New Brunswick budget tackles debt but eschews meaningful tax relief
Appeared in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, March 16, 2020 By Jake Fuss and Alex Whalen Last week, the Higgs government tabled its 2020 budget. While the future of this government remains unknown, the budget highlights [...]
January 2020
Federal government making up fiscal rules on the fly
Appeared in Calgary's Business, January 5, 2020By Alex Whalen and Jake Fuss Last month, before the holidays, the Trudeau government released its fall economic update, which revealed—among other issues—that Canada’s federal debt-to-GDP ratio increased, meaning Canada’s [...]
Nova Scotia’s health-care wait times among longest in Canada
Appeared in the Chronicle Herald, December 24, 2019By Bacchus Barua and Alex Whalen Nova Scotians are worried about health care—and rightly so, as the province’s wait times are among the longest in the country. According [...]
New Brunswick’s high level of education spending produces relatively poor student performance
Appeared in the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, December 22, 2019By Tegan Hill and Alex Whalen Policymakers in New Brunswick too often take the mistaken view that more spending on education means better results. In reality, the [...]