Municipalities forced to amalgamate by their provincial governments can reverse the process, given the right set of circumstances, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute. “Nearly every province in Canada has gone through some form of municipal restructuring over the past three decades,” said Lydia Miljan, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author … Read more
The Fraser Institute published a new study, “An Analysis of Public and Private Sector Employment Trends in Canada,” which find that the public sector in Canada (including federal, provincial and local government employees) has been growing between 2003-2013, reaching proportions not seen since the early 1990s. “There are important adverse economic and fiscal implications that may result … Read more
Faced with a faltering economy and a large budget deficit, Alberta’s recently-elected New Democratic government would be better off emulating the fiscal prudence of Roy Romanow’s NDP government in Saskatchewan – rather than the tax and spend policies implemented by Bob Rae’s NDP in Ontario – concludes a new study published by the Fraser Institute. … Read more
The Fraser Institute released a new study, “Ontario vs. the U.S. ‘Rust Belt’: Coping with a Changing Economic World”, which compares the economic and fiscal performance of Ontario and Quebec with Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois between 1999 and 2013. “If the changing nature of global manufacturing could explain the debt and deficits in Ontario, then we’d … Read more
An increasing number of Canadian families are choosing to home-school their children, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute. The study, Home Schooling in Canada: The Current Picture-2015, notes that 21,662 Canadian children were registered as ‘home-school students’ (with likely more not officially registered) in 2012, an increase of 29 per cent … Read more
A new book, supported by a website and animated videos, makes the ideas of Nobel laureate economist F.A. Hayek easily accessible for a new generation. Published by the Fraser Institute, The Essential Hayek book and website are being released five years after Hayek’s classic 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom, unexpectedly rose to Number 1 … Read more
This year, Tax Freedom Day for the average Canadian family falls on June 10-one day later than in 2014, according to the Fraser Institute’s annual calculations. Tax Freedom Day measures the total yearly tax burden imposed on Canadian families by the federal, provincial and local governments. “Without our Tax Freedom Day calculations, it’s nearly impossible … Read more
The Fraser Institute published a new report, “Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Canada,” finding that government employees receive higher wages and likely more generous non-wage benefits than their private-sector counterparts, based on Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey data from January to December 2013. “As governments across Canada struggle with persistent deficits and growing debt in the … Read more
A new study released today by The Fraser Institute, entitled “The Principle of Targeting in Energy and Environmental Policy”, says that policymakers have encumbered Canadians with superfluous and needlessly costly environmental regulations that do little to improve the environment. The report’s author, Ross McKitrick, professor of Economics at the University of Guelph, said “From light bulb bans to plastic … Read more
Ontario’s push for municipal amalgamation in the 1990s has failed to deliver cost-savings and efficiencies promised for both large and small cities, finds a new study released by the Fraser Institute. “In the late1990s, the government of the day wanted to consolidate municipal governments in an effort to reduce waste and lower property taxes. While … Read more
