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March 5, 2020

Federal Budget Must Spur Growth, Restore Confidence

  • Ottawa must support economic growth and restore Canadians’ confidence in the country’s fiscal management, according to the C.D. Howe Institute’s annual Federal Shadow Budget.

  • Authors William B.P. Robson and Alexandre Laurin show Ottawa could balance federal finances by 2025 through a combination of measures to boost growth and opportunities, while restoring fiscal restraint.

  • Highlights of the 2020 Shadow Budget’s measures to support economic growth include changes to personal and corporate income taxes that will encourage talent and investment, elimination of distorting taxes and border frictions, more focused infrastructure investments, and measures to support Canada’s labour market.

William Robson

Bill Robson took office as President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute in July 2006, after serving as the Institute’s Senior Vice President since 2003 and Director of Research from 2000 to 2003. He has written more than 280 monographs, articles, chapters and books on such subjects as government budgets, pensions, healthcare financing, inflation and currency issues.

Alexandre Laurin

Alexandre is the Director of Research and leads the fiscal policy program and the pension policy program at the C.D. Howe Institute. He joined the C.D. Howe Institute in 2008 and became Director of Research in 2014. From 1999 to 2008, Mr.