Torontonians might be shocked to learn their back-to-back property tax increases come at a time when city hall has more than a billion dollars in the bank. The Institute’s Bill Robson and Nick Dahir tell host Michael Hainsworth that a lack of transparency is keeping politicians from understanding the true cost of running the country’s biggest city.…

Canada is squandering a vital resource in its skilled immigrants. On this episode ofthe CDHI podcast with Michael Hainsworth, two C.D. Howe Institute immigrationexperts discuss this and explain the importance of tearing down barriers tolabour mobility.

Elbows up: Canada is fighting Trump’s tariffs and a former US Treasury insider likes our strategy. Gary Hufbauer warns US standing will continue to shrink and China’s will continue to rise. Will bringing down interprovincial trade barriers counter Trump’s trade tariff move?

Canada’s healthcare system must continue to evolve,according to Federal Minister of Health Mark Holland. On our latest episode, Minister Holland joins host Michael Hainsworth and the C.D. Howe Institute Associate Director of Research Rosalie Wyonch to discuss the Minister’s recent Canada Health Act interpretation letter and more.…

Donald Trump isn't backing down from his threat to hit Canada with 25 percent tariffs. But Canada is fighting back. Michael Hainsworth speaks with Meredith Lilly of Carleton University and Daniel Schwanen, Senior Vice-President of the C.D. Howe Institute, about what options Ottawa and the provinces have to respond to American tariffs, and how much …

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to step down has put the controversial capital gains tax plan’s future into question. Is it a bullet dodged, or should it be revived? Jack Mintz of the University of Calgary and the Institute’s Alex Laurin discuss with Michael Hainsworth.Topics covered: Tax policy, capital gains taxes, Canadian politics, eco…

With 2024 almost behind us, Michael Hainsworth shares some of the CDHI podcast's most fascinating interviews and policy conversations during the course of a tumultuous year. Featuring: Wilbur Ross, Conrad Black, Martha Hall Findlay, John Baird, John Manley, Jason Kenney, John Tory, Mitzie Hunter, Rosalie Wyonch, Jane Philpott, Michelle Alexopoulos,…

Two bombshells were dropped on Canadians this week with the abrupt departure of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland – and news that Canada spent $20 billion more than it budgeted. On this episode of the podcast, C.D. Howe Institute President and CEO William Robson explains where all this leaves Canada's finances.…

The holidays may be about eating to excess, but Ottawa’s “GST Holiday” is little more than “fiscal junk food”. On this episode of the CDHI podcast, Institute CEO Bill Robson and Fellow-in-Residence Don Drummond tell our Michael Hainsworth why a two-month tax break isn’t making these public policy elves jolly this holiday season.…

Ever since ChatGPT started making headlines for helping students write their essays, artificial intelligence (AI) has gotten a bad rap. But machine learning algorithms and the AI that comes from them have been used for several years in the healthcare sector. Helen Angus of AMS Healthcare and C.D. Howe Institute’s Rosalie Wyonch join us to discuss A…

The decision by American voters to send Donald Trump back to the White House continues to reverberate around the world. Canada’s biggest trading partner is about to become more insular, protectionist, and volatile. How do we, as polite Canadians, keep our economy strong, our inflation low, and stay off Trump’s radar? In this week’s podcast, Michael…

When it comes to Canada's finances, the country is aging in more ways than one. With a shrinking workforce, government revenue growth slowing, and costs for healthcare, pensions, and seniors benefits escalating. This issue disproportionately affects provincial governments, who bear the brunt of healthcare spending. In the recent C.D. Howe Institute…

Like it or not, Canada is living in interesting times. Our only neighbour and biggest trading partner is holding an election that could determine the global order for a generation and send shockwaves through the world economy. How should Canada handle its relationship with the US during such a volatile time? For answers, Michael Hainsworth speaks w…

Should Canada be worried about a possible second Trump presidency, or excited? On September 24th, the C.D. Howe Institute hosted a Regent Debate – Be It Resolved: Canada can turn a Trump presidency from a threat into an opportunity. Podcast host Michael Hainsworth talks to two of the debaters, Conrad Black and Martha Hall Findlay, about what was sa…

Since the mid-1980s, US labour productivity has grown by 100 percent. But in Canada, it's only grown by 40 percent. Lower productivity means the economy grows more slowly — and that means Canadians' paychecks grow more slowly as well. Why is Canada less productive? And what can be done about it? Michael Hainsworth speaks with the University of Toro…

If Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025, Canada needs to prepare to open its wallet wider to NATO, and ask itself it is willing to die on the hill of Supply Management in the dairy sector. In this episode of the CDHI Podcast with Michael Hainsworth, Wilbur Ross, who was U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Trump, shares his insights on how C…

If the goal of a vacant-homes tax is to improve housing affordability, it doesn't work. But if its goal is to improve housing availability, it does. That's the conclusion of a new C.D. Howe Institute report called "Ripple Effects: The Impact of an Empty-Homes Tax on Canada's Housing Market". The authors used Vancouver's 2017 empty-homes tax as a ca…

Federal and provincial governments in Canada are too casual about deficits and public debt, according to Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne and economist Trevor Tombe of the University of Calgary. In our latest C.D. Howe Institute podcast episode, Coyne and Tombe discuss the long-term challenges to government balance sheets that we can see comin…

Canada needs to return to the immigration system that made us the envy of the world. Economists Mikal Skuterud and Christopher Worswick explain that choosing economic immigrants based on their likelihood of success is key to the long-term success of the country on the whole.

From cows to cars, Canada is at risk of entering the trilateral review of CUSMA from a position of weakness unless Ottawa steps up and encourages the private sector to do the same. Veteran trade lawyer and C.D. Howe Institute Senior Fellow Lawrence Herman joins Michael Hainsworth to explain why he’s raising the alarm two years ahead of the talks.…

Solving Canada’s healthcare crisis requires a combination of strategic policy reforms, technological innovation, and a shift towards more collaborative care models. On this episode of the CDHI Podcast, policy analysts Tingting Zhang and Rosalie Wyonch tell host Michael Hainsworth about the five key strategies for success the provinces should be pay…

Are Canadians Willing to Pay for Net Zero? with A.J. Goulding and Nik Nanos

How do we get global powers to work together to solve the world’s polycrisis? Financial Times Chief Economic Commentator Martin Wolf dives into the profoundgenerational shifts in demographics, climate change, technology, and geopolitics responsible for the state of nations and the globe.

Building more LTC facilities won’t solve Canada’s long-term care crisis. The C.D. Howe Institute’s Rosalie Wyonch tells host Michael Hainsworth that the solution involves rethinking the way we deliver care, and each province could benefit from the lessons learned by their neighbours.

If you care about the direction of the country, you mustcare about tax reform. That’s the sentiment from the Canadian Tax Foundation’s Heather Evans who warns “fiscal pollution” is clouding our ability to attract business development. But is a 2 percent increase in the GST the solution?

Populist budgets don’t get A+ grades. But why? And what’s wrong with the budget Ontario’s Conservative government recently tabled? The C.D. Howe Institute’s Bill Robson tells Michael Hainsworth that it’s about morethan just deficit spending.

Ottawa has rolled out the first stage of its national pharmacare program. But it’s a far cry from what the NDP required to prop-up the minority government. Former federal health minister Dr. Jane Philpott joins former Alberta health minister Fred Horne and the Institute’s Rosalie Wyonch to discuss why $1.5 billion isn’t anywhere near enough to pay …

Securing Canada’s supply chains comes with risk. HEC Montréal Professor and C.D. Howe Institute Fellow-In-Residence Ari Van Assche debunks COVID-era theories about why we ran out of masks, toilet paper, and bicycles as well as how we can avoid the same fate in the future.

Raise the GST and luxury taxes. Balance the budget. End SupplyManagement for the dairy industry. In the C.D. Howe Institute’s Shadow Budget 2024, Bill Robson and Don Drummond warn that we’ll suffer more later if we don’t take the fiscal medicine now.

Curing what ails Canada’s healthcare system requires us taking the financial bull by the privatization horns. Dalhousie University political science Professor Katherine Fierlbeck and host Michael Hainsworth discuss the importance of accurately framing the nature of our system so we can understand it’s expectations – and limitations.…

The Deep Freeze has put Albertans on notice: The fear of rolling blackouts is real. As a recent massive cold front from the Northwest Territories that flooded the province and its neighbours led to concerns about its citizens' ability to keep the lights on, and the furnaces too. Kent Fellows, a C.D. Howe Institute Fellow-In-Residence,Assistant Prof…

Can Canada’s fraying social safety net catch new immigrants? And if not, what’s the solution as headlines reveal many are sleeping in shifts, dying on the streets, and not able to leverage their skillset in their new homeland? Former Ontario MPP Mitzie Hunter, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Toronto Mayor John Tory join Michael Hainsworth to revis…

How would the price of milk threaten Canada’s auto industry? Bill C-282 risks upturning trade negotiations with the world, especially our biggest trading partner. And if Donald Trump returns to the White House, Martha Hall Findlay tells the Institute’s Bill Robson and Michael Hainsworth that all bets are off.…

Inflation acts as an additional tax on Canadians, and when inflation is high, the pain is exacerbated. So what’s the solution? Host Michael Hainsworth speaks to C.D. Howe Institute CEO Bill Robson and Director of Research Alexandre Laurin to understand how Ottawa can ease the pain no matter the inflation rate.…

Why does it seem politics today is stuck in neutral? Veteranpolitical journalist and award winning author Paul Wells explains the increasing divide between policymakers and the public they serve, why short-term thinking sabotages long-term goals, and why valuable institutional knowledge is leaving the public service.…

If Ottawa is to play a role in solving the housing crisis, it must be strategic and stay out of the way of municipalities. The C.D. Howe Institute's Benjamin Dachis tells host Michael Hainsworth that changing the tax treatment for both homeowners and rental developers would go a long way towards encouraging more construction.…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a threat to democracy. Yoshua Bengio, Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the Universite de Montreal and the Scientific Director of the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms joins host Michael Hainsworth to discuss how we should deploy AI in government, for national securit…

Join host Michael Hainsworth in this enlightening discussion as we delve deep into Canada's housing crisis. In this episode, we hear from Romy Bowers, President and CEO of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. Discover the challenges facing Canada's housing market and the promising solutions thes…

You wouldn’t let your contractor go over budget without asking why. So why should we give Ottawa a pass? Neil Moss of The Hill Times joins C.D. Howe Institute CEO Bill Robson and host Michael Hainsworth to discuss why MPs weren’t keeping an eye on spending during the pandemic – or today.By C.D. Howe Institute

We’ve been complaining about Canada’s productivity problem for 50 years. One of the secrets to solving our problem is by creating companies that scale up from start up to world class. According to Charles Plant, C.D. Howe Institute author and Founder of The Narwhal Project, the solution isn’t throwing more money at the problem: it’s turning Canadia…

2022 Donner Prize winner Ryan Manucha and Michael Hainsworth discuss booze, cigarettes, and interprovincial trade in a growing isolationist environment around the world, and the politics at play as we try to remove those barriers to growth.By C.D. Howe Institute

When you’ve got more than 2,500 international investor agreements worldwide, you’re bound to have disputes. But as trade lawyer and C.D. Howe Institute Senior Fellow Lawrence Herman points out, reforms to the dispute resolution mechanisms need reformation for greater transparency – and to ensure foreign investors still trust that their capital is b…

Could the Bank of Canada seen the inflation beast coming? C.D. Howe Institute's Jeremy Kronick and Steve Ambler tell host Michael Hainsworth that the Institute saw several signs of it rearing its ugly head long before the Bank raised borrowing costs. But what about now?By C.D. Howe Institute

Privatized healthcare isn’t new to Canada. But for Medcan CEO and Chair Shaun Francis, breaking the government monopoly on how we’re cared for requires competition – and patient education.By C.D. Howe Institute

The economics of supply chain politics doesn’t add up. C.D. Howe Institute Fellow-In-Residence Dan Ciuriak tells host Michael Hainsworth that meeting geopolitical goals by binding the invisible hand of the markets only ties it behind a country’s back.By C.D. Howe Institute

One in three Ontarians do not have access to workplace health and dental benefits. In its Commentary titled "Better for Workers, Better for All? Assessing a Portable Health Benefits Plan in Ontario," the C.D. Howe Institute investigates a possible solution for that almost 30% of those in the province who need coverage.…

You’re at risk of running out of money in retirement. On episode eight of the C.D. Howe Institute Podcast, CEO Bill Robson tells host Michael Hainsworth why we need to change the rules regarding RRIFs today to ensure Canadians live long – and prosper.By C.D. Howe Institute

As we come out on the other side of COVID-19, Canada’s labour shortage is quickly improving. However, as C.D. Howe Institute Fellow-In-Residence and University of Waterloo Economics Professor Mikal Skuterud tells us on episode seven, the fuel for the economic recovery requires targeted immigration.By C.D. Howe Institute

Solar and wind won’t get us all the way to Net Zero by 2050. On episode six of the C.D. Howe Institute Podcast, Simon Fraser University's John Richards and OPG’s Gary Rose tell host Michael Hainsworth that Small Modular Reactors are the solution, and they’re coming sooner than you think.By C.D. Howe Institute

What does the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in California mean for Canada? In episode five of the C.D. Howe Institute Podcast, Elevate Export Finance’s Peter Hall tells host Michael Hainsworth that SVB can learn a lot from our financial expertise, and that Canadian banks may benefit from the need for capital in Silicon Valley.…