Reading Time: 3 minutesDisponible en français. One of Parliament’s fundamental roles is to review and approve the government’s taxation and spending plans. To fulfill this role, parliamentarians follow the parliamentary financial cycle, which consists of a continuous loop of activities that take place… Read More ›
Reading Time: 5 minutesDisponible en français. Domestically, discussions about Canada’s defence spending are generally focused on the Department of National Defence (DND), including the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). However, in reporting their defence spending to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, or the… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. Equalization is a federal transfer payment program designed to reduce the differences in revenue-generating capacity among Canada’s 10 provinces. The program helps ensure that all Canadians have access to broadly comparable levels of public services. The Equalization program is… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. The Public Accounts of Canada is an annual report of the Government of Canada’s financial activities for the fiscal year ending each 31 March. It includes consolidated financial statements, summaries of various financial reports, and additional analysis and information. It does not include Canada Pension Plan… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. Measuring Democracy examines three widely used democracy indexes: those produced by Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Varieties of Democracy (V‑Dem). This HillStudy explains how these indexes work, how each index evaluates the state of democracy in Canada, how they differ from each other and some possible limitations of… Read More ›
Reading Time: 6 minutesDisponible en français. From the beginning of World War II until 1950, and again from 1962 to 1970, the value of the Canadian dollar was fixed in relation to the U.S. dollar. The Bank of Canada was responsible for intervening… Read More ›
Reading Time: 2 minutesDisponible en français. The purpose of Canada’s retirement income system is twofold: to alleviate poverty among seniors and to help seniors who are better off to avoid significant declines in living standards when they retire. This HillStudy outlines the different… Read More ›
Reading Time: 8 minutesDisponible en français. A rental housing co-operative (co-op) is a non-profit corporation in which each member-resident owns one share. A form of community housing, rental co-ops are democratically governed by their members, who may also participate in management and operational… Read More ›
Reading Time: 3 minutesDisponible en français. The federal budget outlines the government’s revenue estimates and expenditure priorities for the fiscal year. It is a key component of the parliamentary financial cycle. The outlook for budgetary revenues and expenses can be found in tables… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. Economists view productivity growth as the main long-term determinant of improvements in the average standard of living, as measured by the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Researchers and policy makers note that a decline… Read More ›