Rather than subsist on government aid, Air Canada should urge officials to ease travel restrictions
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the only thing keeping Air Canada alive is the federal government bailouts. They’re delaying the inevitable and sensible way out: cutting travel restrictions, encouraging tourism by ensuring effective containment and encouraging vaccination. In April, the government granted the firm another $5.9-billion loan to keep it afloat…
Canada’s 2050 goal to achieve net-zero emissions might look good on paper, but it will harm investors, companies, employees and households
Canada’s policy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 necessitates divesting from fossil fuels. There’s just one problem: massive outstanding loans from banks to the oil and gas industries. The oil and gas sector makes up more than 10 per cent of the Canadian economy, and abolishing it, gradually or otherwise, would take its toll. Canadian…
Officials need to streamline and eliminate child-care regulations
The federal government has spotted another pretext to increase its intrusion in our lives: subsidized child care. Despite knowing economic lockdowns have caused massive job losses, federal officials argue that unaffordable child care impedes women from returning to the workforce. Subsidies are a shallow, top-down policy that would generate aid dependency from child-care centres and…
A global minimum corporate tax is a 20th-century solution imposed on the 21st-century, where the digital realm is disrupting taxation
World leaders should resist U.S. pressure to enact a global minimum corporate tax, despite a recent move by the G7 countries to adopt the plan. It would harm corporations, small companies, workers and consumers while discouraging investment and wealth creation. If anything, the world needs more competition for post-pandemic recovery. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s…
Canada must emulate countries such as Liechtenstein and Malta, which adapted legislation in advance to attract crypto entrepreneurs
The Canadian cryptocurrency industry knew mainstream adoption would inevitably come with a regulatory load, especially after the 2019 collapse of the largest exchange at the time, QuadrigaCX. Participants, however, didn’t expect regulators to come with one of the most heavy-handed approaches possible. On March 29, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Investment Industry Regulatory…
To incentivize affordable housing, officials need to slash taxes and red tape
As economists Jake Fuss and Tegan Hill have warned, the macro effects of government stimuli to address COVID-19 lockdowns are starting to emerge. In Canada, they have taken the form of an overheating housing market. With mortgage rates plunging to historic lows, the demand for residential real estate is driving prices through the roof. As…
But any plan for fiscal austerity can’t ignore the elephant in the room – extraordinary health-care spending
Alberta’s debt has grown exponentially over the last decade, surging from under $10 billion in 2010 to $98 billion in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has set off a trap that earlier provincial administrations laid by their excessive reliance on fossil-fuel revenues. On Feb. 25, Finance Minister Travis Toews announced the province would start 2022 with…
A fraction of the global economy moving to a bitcoin standard will create a ripple effect
Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper recently suggested bitcoin could become a reserve currency alongside the U.S. dollar. Now a business adviser with Harper & Associates consulting, he had a caveat: bitcoin still lacks a key money feature, that being a store of value. In contrast to fiat currencies, bitcoin has done little but rise…
Alongside investing and funding, the government of Alberta must emphasize entrepreneurship and keep co-operating with the private sector
Technology companies have emerged as clear winners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jurisdictions without a traditional tech imprint – like Alberta – have funnelled funds to facilitate startups. That’s a good diversification strategy, but they should be careful not to veer into protectionism and favouritism. It came as no surprise that in 2020 retail sales through…
In Ontario, Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere, churches are pushing back against COVID-19 lockdowns, staying open and advising people to practise civil disobedience. Such behaviour must be replicated across Canada. The draconian pandemic response from the provincial and federal governments has paved the way for a permanently expanded state. Imposing strict restrictions on the economy a…
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the only thing keeping Air Canada alive is the federal government bailouts. They’re delaying the inevitable and sensible way out: cutting travel restrictions, encouraging tourism by ensuring effective containment and encouraging vaccination. In April, the government granted the firm another $5.9-billion loan to keep it afloat…
