The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit fraserinstitute.org.
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TORONTO—The cost of a newly constructed home in Ontario will increase by $71,818, on average, by 2030 as a result of the federal government’s stricter energy efficiency regulations for buildings, according to a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.
TORONTO—The prolonged COVID-19 school closures across Ontario from 2020 to 2022, imposed life-long costs on children, despite evidence available to policymakers early on that closures wouldn’t slow the transmission of COVID-19 and that the harms could outweigh any possible benefits, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
TORONTO—The government sector accounted for 86.7 per cent of all new jobs in Canada since the pandemic began in early 2020, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
VANCOUVER—Despite common misperceptions, education spending, specifically per student spending in public schools across Canada increased in 8 of ten provinces between 2012-13 and 2020-21, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Contrary to what we often hear, spending is on the rise in public schools across Canada, and in most cases, it’s outpacing inflation and enrolment changes,” said Michael Zwaagstra, senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and co-author of Education Spending in Public Schools in Canada, 2023 Edition.
TORONTO—In a ranking of employment incomes in the largest 141 metropolitan areas in Canada and the United States, only two Canadian cities rank in the top half, with most Canadian metro areas ranking near the bottom, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Canadians in our largest urban centres are generally earning less employment income than people living in comparable American cities,” said Ben Eisen, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of Comparing Median Employment Income in Large Canadian and American Metropolitan Areas.
CALGARY—The average Canadian family spent 45.3 per cent of its income on taxes in 2022—more than housing, food and clothing costs combined, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Taxes remain the largest household expense for families in Canada,” said Jake Fuss, director of Fiscal Studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Taxes versus the Necessities of Life: The Canadian Consumer Tax Index 2023 Edition.
VANCOUVER—Despite common misperceptions, middle-class workers in Sweden—a country often celebrated by social democrats in Canada—pay relatively high taxes for Sweden’s large government, finds a new book published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
VANCOUVER—Under fast-aging population projections, Canada’s aging population could lower per person GDP, a broad measure of income, by $11,200 by 2043, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
CALGARY—The top 20 per cent of income-earning families pay more than half (53.1 per cent) of total taxes including personal income, sales and property taxes, according to a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent non-partisan Canadian think tank.
“Despite the common misperception that top earners don’t pay their ‘fair share’ of taxes, in reality these households pay a disproportionately large share of the total tax bill,” said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Measuring Progressivity in Canada’s Tax System, 2023.
VANCOUVER—A typical Canadian family of four will pay an estimated $16,950 for public health-care insurance this year, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Canadians pay a substantial amount of money for health care through a variety of taxes—even if we don’t pay directly for medical services,” said Bacchus Barua, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2023.
VANCOUVER—Despite mischaracterizations by advocates of socialism outside of Sweden, the country is not socialist. And in fact, it has a long history of comparatively small government, open markets, and competition. This is the main lesson of an upcoming book to be published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank, working in partnership with think tanks in the U.S., Australia and the U.K.
CALGARY—The top combined personal income tax rate in every province (except Alberta and Saskatchewan) currently exceeds 50 per cent—yet the majority of Canadians (58 per cent) believe that personal income tax rates should not exceed 50 per cent, finds new polling data published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
Weak growth in Canada has persisted for a decade, with per capita real gross domestic product posting its smallest gain in nearly a century. Canada’s economy has grown significantly slower than that of the United States, suggesting that the origins of Canada’s growth crisis are domestic. Moreover, slower growth in Canada has originated mostly in declining business investment and exports, the sectors of the economy that embed innovative technologies and reflect the competitiveness of Canadian businesses.
TORONTO—If the Ford government had maintained the spending levels of the previous Wynne government, there would have been $9.5 billion available this year for tax relief and balancing the budget, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
CALGARY—Business investment per worker—a key driver of income gains and living standards—has declined in Canada since 2014, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“The prosperity of Canadians depends in large part on the strength of business investment, so poor investment performance is bad news for workers,” said Tegan Hill, senior economist at the Fraser Institute and coauthor of Comparing Business Investment per Worker in Canada and the United States, 2002–2021.
During the pandemic, governments around the world spent a significant amount of taxpayer money in an effort to support their economies. This was particularly true in Canada, with hundred billion-dollar programs such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), and in the United States, with nearly trillion-dollar programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Impact Payments, and expanded and extended unemployment programs.
Much of our understanding of anthropogenic climate change, and much of the debate over climate science and climate policy is based on information generated via mathematical modeling. Rarely, if ever, do we see much discussion of empirical measurements of climate change; global average temperature and sea level are rare exceptions. But empirical measurements of climate policy impacts, empirical measurements of changes that might, or might not, validate modeled projections of such climate changes, or empirical measurement of meteorological (weather) changes are scarce to non-existent in most media.
VANCOUVER—Today—Monday, June 19—Canadians celebrate Tax Freedom Day, the day in the year when they start working for themselves, not government, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
Until the recent Canadian wildfires sent plumes of smoke over the densely populated cities around the Great Lakes and Eastern Seaboard, few people in those cities had ever experienced the weird orange haze of a forest fire or the temporary spike in fine particulates and pervasive smell of smoke. And understandably, many people reacted with some alarm. We city dwellers typically only see wildfires on television, usually alongside footage of fire crews and water bombers valiantly trying to put them out, which creates the impression they are somehow unnatural events that must be avoided at all costs. Of course, in reality, forest fires are not only natural but are essential to the life cycle of the forest ecosystem.
VANCOUVER—According to many key metrics including incomes and life expectancy, life in Poland improved dramatically after the country transitioned from socialism to a market democracy, finds a new book published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank, in partnership with think-tanks in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
“When Poles finally discarded the yoke of socialism, life in Poland improved dramatically on virtually every measure of economic wellbeing,” said Matt Mitchell, Fraser Institute senior fellow and coauthor of The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939–2019.