Dear John,

When it comes to public policy, Canadians need to be aware of the cost of the policies they are supporting, before they are able to formulate a truly informed opinion.

For example: the Trudeau Government has introduced three huge new permanent programs in recent years: national daycare; universal pharmacare; and a national dental care program.

Upon their announcement, support for these initiatives was generally high.

But when the Fraser Institute commissioned a poll to gauge support for these programs, support plummeted when people were informed that taxes will go up to pay for them.

69% of Canadians surveyed supported the idea of a national $10 a day daycare program – but when asked if they would support a GST increase to pay for it, support for the program declined to just 36%.

Likewise, support for pharmacare fell from 79% to 40% and support for a national dental care program fell from 72% to 42%, once respondents were similarly informed about tax increases to pay for them.

Clearly, people’s minds change when they are informed about the cost of things.

That begs the question – who, exactly, is informing Canadians of these costs?

Unsurprisingly, government press releases announcing programs virtually never include any information on how the government will pay for them.

So, we can turn to our news networks, right?

Wrong…

Another recent Fraser Institute study found that the cost of the three programs mentioned above comprised just 4.1% of CTV’s coverage and 3.7% of CBC’s coverage.

In other words, on two of the largest news broadcast organizations in Canada, more than 95% of the combined coverage of these three major new government programs made no reference about how the government plans to pay for them!

John, it is clear that the Fraser Institute has an important role to play when it comes to keeping Canadians informed about what their governments are doing.

As an email subscriber, you already know that we release multiple studies and commentaries every single week, on issues ranging from the economy and education, to health care and the environment.

We also put on economics courses – not just for students, but for journalists and teachers too, to help them understand things like government budgets, so that they can better inform other Canadians!

We of course accept no government funding to conduct our research – we rely entirely on supporters like you.

If you support the work we do, please consider making a donation today.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Niels Veldhuis
President
The Fraser Institute