With threatened 50 per cent US tariffs set to take effect tomorrow, a new C.D. Howe Institute working paper examines the dispute over Canada’s cheese tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocation system, finding that changes sought by the United States could impose costs on Canadian dairy processors and, ultimately, dairy producers. In A Slice of the Market: … Read more
In 2025 Labour Market Review: Trade Uncertainty, Structural Pressures, and Policy Priorities for Canada, authors Parisa Mahboubi and Tingting Zhang warn that labour market outcomes are becoming increasingly uneven across regions, sectors, and demographic groups as trade tensions, including the upcoming Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review, productivity challenges, demographic change and technological disruption converge at once. … Read more
Canada’s $10-a-day childcare plan has lowered parent fees across most of the country, but families are increasingly stuck on waitlists as demand outpaces the supply of licensed spaces, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In From Promise to Practice: A Critical Review of the Federal Childcare Plan, Parisa Mahboubi and Tingting Zhang … Read more
The C.D. Howe Institute published a study on Dec. 15: Damage Averted: Estimating the Effects of Covid-19 Vaccines on Hospitalizations, Mortality and Costs in Canada. Authors Rosalie Wyonch and Tingting Zhang found that the wide success of the public health vaccination programs in Canada during the pandemic produced measurable benefits. “Overall, our analysis shows vaccines were highly effective at reducing … Read more
The frequency of viral outbreaks and pandemics in the last two decades, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, has focussed attention on Canada’s lack of preparedness, vaccine supply shortages and production self-sufficiency. There have been calls for a new public agency to develop and produce vaccines for the next pandemic. However, this proposal is ill advised, … Read more
The C.D. Howe Intitute published a new report based on a Sept. 29, 2021 special policy seminar on the sustainability and resiliency of Canada’s pharmaceutical supply chains and other issues surrounding domestic manufacturing. The general consensus among participants found that improving emergency preparedness, increasing domestic manufacturing capacity, and investment in the monitoring of drug supply inventories … Read more
The C.D. Howe Institute released a report, An Oil Sands Inequity: Alberta’s Outdated Bitumen Valuation Program, which argues a stable, competitive and fair oil sands regime is essential, given the substantial contribution of Alberta’s oil sands to both the province and Canada’s economy. Report authors Joel Balyk, Benjamin Dachis and Charles DeLand examine the Bitumen Valuation Methodology, a … Read more
The C.D. Howe Institute issued a new report, Declining Vital Signs: Canada’s Investment Crisis, in which authors William B.P. Robson and Miles Wu examine Canada’s stock of business capital and new investment, comparing it to the United States and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. “Canada’s capital stock is not keeping pace with its workforce,” write … Read more
The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council recommends that the Bank of Canada keep its target for the overnight rate at 0.25 per cent through October, before raising it to 0.50 per cent by March 2022, and to 0.75 per cent by September 2022. It also recommends that the Bank maintain its quantitative-easing purchases of Government of Canada … Read more
The C.D. Howe Institute released a new report, “Cutting Square Deals: Drug Prices, Regulation, and Patent Protection,” in which authors Åke Blomqvist and Paul Grootendorst review the way Canadian drug prices have been negotiated and regulated, and discuss how new approaches must reflect both the desire to control healthcare costs and the expectation that Canada should not “free ride” … Read more
