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Published in the Financial Post on June 11, 2011 By William B.P. Robson The recent economic crisis highlighted the weak foundations of defined-benefit (DB) pension and social-security schemes around the world. The Canada Pension Plan appears to have weathered that storm well, and some are advocating an expanded CPP to alleviate risks of low incomes in retirement. Proposals for a bigger CPP that…

Published in the Ottawa Citizen on April 22, 2011 By David Dodge and Richard Dion As societies become richer, they tend to accommodate the rising demands and expectations of their citizens for more and better-quality health-care services. The value that citizens place on preserving and extending a good-quality life becomes more important as their consumption of other goods and services expands…

Published in the Financial Post on April 8, 2011 By Finn Poschmann When Jon Kesselman of Simon Fraser University and I published "A New Option for Retirement Savings: Tax-Prepaid Savings Plans," the roadmap for what was to become TFSAs, we had high hopes for tax free savings accounts. I doubt we would have believed anyone who told us that in less than 10 years' time nearly five million Canadians…

Published in the National Post on March 22, 2011 By Colin Busby Do you have a sharp pain in your stomach that won't go away? If yes, you may soon visit an emergency room for help. Your next decision is whether to go to Toronto General, Western, St. Michael's, etc., for service. As an aid, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care posts online monthly updates of average ER wait times for…

March 23, 2011 – Members of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness Council today offered their scores on the 2011 federal budget tabled on March 22. For the key criteria listed below, the combined score is the simple average of their responses: Appropriateness of the assumptions underlying the economic outlook and fiscal planning framework: B+ Appropriateness of the…

Sylvia Ostry Lecture, Toronto, September 22, 2011: The Case for Trade - Why it is Key to the Future of Canadian Prosperity   Louis Lévesque was appointed Deputy Minister of International Trade on December 15, 2008. He served as Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Privy Council Office from 2006 to 2008, and as Associate Deputy Minister with Finance Canada from 2004 to…