Reading Time: 3 minutes As much as rent control could benefit some existing renters, in the long run it reduces the incentive to build new rental housing
Author: Steve Lafleur
Steve's past work has focused primarily on housing, transportation, local government and inter-governmental fiscal relations. His current focus is on economic competitiveness of jurisdictions in the Prairie provinces.
Ontario government’s focus on foreign buyers misses the point
Reading Time: 3 minutes Focus instead on reducing the time it takes to obtain a building permit and the per-unit costs to comply with regulations, which amounts to almost $50,000
Alberta’s dangerous debt binge isn’t over yet
Reading Time: 3 minutes The burden foisted on future generations of Albertans is staggering. By 2019-20, Alberta’s net government debt is expected to reach $45.2 billion
Alberta is the engine that drives Canadian growth
Reading Time: 3 minutes What would Canada’s economy and public finances look like without Alberta? It wouldn’t be pretty
How an NDP-Green government can free up B.C.’s housing supply
Reading Time: 3 minutes If housing affordability for average British Columbians is the goal, local and provincial governments should reduce barriers to development
Alberta finance minister fear-mongers after credit rating downgrade
Reading Time: 3 minutes Rather than raise the spectre of massive disruptions to public services, Ceci should look to Saskatchewan for an example of productive spending discipline
Alberta’s run of deficits tower over Ontario’s worst
Reading Time: 3 minutes The silver lining for Albertans is that until last year it was the only province with no net debt. But that’s changing quickly and the burden falls on taxpayers
Living frugally won’t improve millennial housing woes
Reading Time: 3 minutes More money to spend on housing could push prices higher if not accompanied by an increase in the housing supply
Vancouver can’t have both low-density and affordable housing
Reading Time: 3 minutes To take pressure off the cost of living in Vancouver, the city should build more housing units on its limited geographic footprint
Alberta NDP rejects prosperous polices of the Chretien era
Reading Time: 4 minutes Approach reminiscent of the failed deficit-reduction strategies of Alberta governments throughout the 1970s and 1980s