In its 2012-2013 Budget, the Canadian government announced its intention to gradually raise the age of eligibility for Old Age Security benefits from 65 to 67. Future generations will surely come to see this as a timid adjustment measure. If life expectancy keeps rising as expected, government policies in this area will need to be guided by a new paradigm for retirement.

Media release :: Old Age Security at 67: a timid, belated adjustment

Analysis on increasing life expectancy and public pension benefits.

The benefits of for-profit private hospitals in Germany.

Traditional airlines have had a lot of trouble remaining profitable over the past decade. In order to cut costs, they formed partnerships to coordinate ticket sales, flight schedules and baggage handling among other things, while simplifying connections. This need to reduce costs has become even more crucial with recent increases and constant fluctuations in the price of oil and with the greater competition stemming from the arrival of a large number of "low-cost" carriers onto the marke

New rules for the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans.

The potential of entrepreneurial initiatives in health care.

For the past fifteen years, increases in health care spending have outpaced the growth of the Canadian economy. As a result, this spending takes up an increasing share of government budgets. The share of provincial and territorial program spending taken up by health care expenditures reached 37.7% in 2010. Not all sources of increased spending should be viewed as problems, of course. New medical technologies, for instance, even if sometimes quite expensive, can provide valuable services, and perhaps reduce other costs.

Unionization and collective bargaining in the public sector are relatively recent phenomena, essentially dating back to the second half of the 20th century. In Canada, only 12% of public-sector employees were unionized in 1960, compared to 70% today. In the United States, during the same period, the public-sector unionization rate went from 11% to 36%. In Quebec, the right to collective bargaining was granted to public-sector employees in 1944 (the right to strike came later, in 1964) and to civil servants in 1965. Among U.S. states, it is Wisconsin that was the first to grant collective bargaining rights to certain public-sector employees in 1959. Today, some thirty U.S. states allow collective bargaining with public-sector unions.

Union organizations are private organizations, but their financing relies on an indirect power to tax known as the Rand formula. They also enjoy various tax breaks, like a tax credit for union dues, a tax exemption for strike pay as well as tax credits for contributions to labour-sponsored funds. Despite these quasi-public financing prerogatives, Quebec union organizations generally do not exhibit financial transparency and have very few obligations in this regard.

Taxing junk food to prevent and fight obesity.

The administrative burden of running a business.

Obesity: A new tax won't change our eating habits.

The "national question" is back in the news.