Trudeau government gets unlimited spending authority for six months

— Mar 26, 2020

The COVID-19 bill effectively eliminates the need for all parties to work together to pass spending legislation for the next six months.

Boost EI but don’t create new wage subsidy program

— Mar 26, 2020

The $3.8 billion program will provide up to $25,000 in subsidies per employer.

— Mar 18, 2020

Ottawa will spend up to $27 billion supporting individual Canadians and businesses.

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For now, the new wage subsidy program will cost $71 billion.

Appeared in the National Post, March 31, 2020

In response to the COVID crisis, Parliament granted sweeping powers to the finance minister.

Once you adjust for inflation and population growth, Alberta’s economy barely grew at all between 2008 and 2018.

Default risk and exchange-rate risk increase for foreign lenders as they increase their holdings of any government’s debt.

Provincial government debt-service costs are set to reach $13.2 billion this year.

Appeared in National Newswatch, March 27, 2020

High regulatory and severance costs alongside legislative uncertainty will exacerbate an already bad situation.

Effectively, the CERB will now cost $40 billion, up from $15 billion.

Letting the price of scarce goods rise forces us to use the limited supply of the good for the most important purposes.

When we learned that the first cases in Canada were from overseas flights, no measures were taken to screen passengers from infected areas.

Solar and bioenergy generators absorb 15 per cent of the surcharge yet generate only three per cent of Ontario’s electricity.