From: Tasnim FarihaTo: Housing watchersDate: July 30, 2025Re: We’re Still Losing the Affordable Housing War Canada’s housing supply gap is widening, not narrowing. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which first sounded the alarm in 2022, has now quietly moved away from its 2030 target for restoring housing affordability. The agency has shifted to […]| C.D. Howe Institute
This Shadow Budget restores surpluses by 2028/29, lowering the debt ratio from its current level above 42 percent to 35 percent by 2029/30. It also sets Canada on a path to increase its defence spending to meet its 2 percent NATO commitment, increasing defence spending $16 billion compared to plans.| C.D. Howe Institute
Canada is facing threats, and responding to them is job one. But our next government must not lose sight of the longer-term need to reduce our dependence on the US, raise our prosperity, to defend our sovereignty, and put Canada's debt on a sustainable path.| C.D. Howe Institute
From: John Lester and Alexandre LaurinTo: Canada’s budget observersDate: July 15, 2025Re: Ottawa’s Cost-Cutting Axe Needs to Swing More Widely The federal government has promised a spending review aimed at limiting the growth in its operating spending, also known as direct program expenses, to two per cent a year. With the new NATO commitment to increase defence-related spending by […]| C.D. Howe Institute
The Fiscal Update the Government Should Have Produced and the Budget Canada Needs by William B.P. Robson, Don Drummond and Alexandre Laurin Introduction: No Budget, No Plan The federal government has said it will not release a budget until the fall. Delaying a budget until the fiscal year is more than half over is never […]| C.D. Howe Institute
From: Barry PrenticeTo: Trade ObserversDate: July 2, 2025Re: Let’s Let More US Airlines Into Small Canadian Centres The Competition Bureau’s new report on the airline industry gets things mostly right. Perfection in transportation policy is an elusive beast. Consumers want lower fares, more options and better-quality service. As the old joke says, you are welcome to choose […]| C.D. Howe Institute
June 12, 2025 – Canada’s one-size-fits-all approach to taxing nicotine discourages smokers from switching to much safer alternatives and is fuelling a thriving illicit market, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “The Taxation and Regulation of Reduced-Harm Nicotine Products,” Ian Irvine and Sam Hampsher-Monk find that while taxes account for about […]| C.D. Howe Institute