Governments are not real estate developers, and Canada should take note of the failure of New Zealand’s cancelled program, highlights this MEI publication. “The prospect of new homes is great, but execution is what matters,” says Renaud Brossard, vice president of Communications at the MEI and contributor to the report.

Quebec could become the most attractive business tax jurisdiction in North America if it eliminated corporate subsidies and used the savings to reduce corporate taxes, states this MEI study.

Forcing companies to sell access to their networks, sometimes below cost, will discourage investment in vital internet infrastructure, warns this MEI Economic Note. “By making infrastructure ownership less and less profitable, Canada’s telecommunications regulator has shifted investment away from network build-up and maintenance,” says Gabriel Giguère, Senior Policy Analyst at the MEI and author of the publication.

The median patient visiting a Quebec emergency room last year spent 10 minutes longer there than they would have the previous year, according to this MEI report. “These long wait times are not just numbers — they represent real Canadians who face delays in receiving critical care that cause needless pain or distress,” said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, economist at the MEI and author of the report.

If Quebec were to adopt a mutual recognition act with the rest of the country, similar to Nova Scotia’s, Canada’s economy would stand to grow significantly, according to this Economic Note published by the MEI. “The growing momentum to eliminate internal barriers to trade in Canada is promising,” says the publication’s author, Trevor Tombe, professor of economics at the University of Calgary and senior fellow at the MEI.

If it is serious about reining in spending and controlling the size of its bureaucracy, Ottawa should take a page from the Chrétien government’s 1994 Program Review, states this MEI Viewpoint. “Over the course of Justin Trudeau’s tenure as prime minister, Ottawa underwent an unprecedented hiring spree,” said Renaud Brossard, vice president of communications at the MEI and contributor to the publication.

The Quebec government should extend the scope of Bill 89 so that it also applies to employees of the public and parapublic sectors, recommends this MEI Viewpoint. “The dramatic growth in the number of strikes clearly shows that these are no longer a tool of last resort, but have become the norm for unions, especially in the public sector,” says Gabriel Giguère, senior policy analyst at the MEI.

The federal government’s growing regulatory burden on businesses is holding Canada back and must be urgently reviewed, argues this publication from the MEI. “Regulation creep is a real thing, and Ottawa has been fuelling it for decades,” says Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI and coauthor of the Viewpoint.

The Quebec government would have a budget surplus today if its spending had returned to the growth trajectory of the Couillard government after the pandemic, according to this Economic Note. “We find ourselves facing chronic deficits today, not because of the situation, but as a result of deliberate choices,” explains Gabriel Giguère, senior policy analyst at the MEI and the author of the study.

By recommending the prohibition of private medical practice, Quebec’s order of physicians, the Collège des médecins du Québec, is going against best international practices, states the MEI in this Viewpoint. “When we look at healthcare systems that work better than ours, it’s clear that private medical practice does not reduce access to care,” says Emmanuelle B. Faubert, economist at the MEI and author of the publication.