Education spending increased in BC since 2012/13 to $14,767 per student, but academic performance substantially declined over same period

K-12 Education Reform in British Columbia finds that from 2012/13 to 2021/22, per-student spending (adjusted for inflation) increased in BC from $13,839 to $14,767, but over the same 10-year period, student performance declined substantially. In fact, the average scores for BC students on the international Programme for International Assessment (PISA) tests in math dropped from 522 in 2012 to 496 in 2022. Scores also declined in reading (535 to 511) and science (544 to 519).

Federal Indigenous spending almost tripled to projected $32 billion—but modest improvement in Indigenous living standards due to unrelated federal child benefit

An Avalanche of Money: The Federal Government’s Policies Toward First Nations finds that while federal spending on Indigenous affairs has almost tripled since 2015, the uptick in Indigenous living standards is due primarily to the Canada Child Benefit, an unrelated federal program for families with children.

Commentary and Blog Posts

Trudeau’s new tax package gets almost everything wrong

by Ben Eisen and Jake Fuss

The newly-announced GST holiday and tax rebate is a grab bag of bad ideas that will not get Canada out of its long-term growth rut.

Alberta’s fiscal update projects budget surplus, but fiscal fortunes could quickly turn

by Tegan Hill

According to Thursday’s mid-year fiscal update, Alberta’s finances continue to be at risk from volatile resource revenue.

Federal government’s latest media bailout another bad idea

(Appeared in True North) by Matthew Lau

The natural inclination is to produce content that will appeal to the customer.

Clock ticking on B.C. government’s debt bomb

(Appeared in the Western Standard) by Ben Eisen

The province's debt this year will exceed $16,000 per person, approximately twice as much as a decade ago.

Ottawa should finally change course after decade of deficits

(Appeared in the Ottawa Sun) by Jake Fuss and Grady Munro

This fiscal year the government will run a projected $39.8 billion budget deficit.

Broken ‘equalization’ program bad for all provinces

by Alex Whalen and Tegan Hill

All provinces except B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan will receive equalization payments this year.

Our ‘public choice’ problem in Canada and the United States

by Matthew D. Mitchell

In the U.S., mattress industry lobbyists obtained a 744 per cent tariff on foreign mattresses.

‘Grade inflation’ gives students false sense of their academic abilities

(Appeared in the Epoch Times) by Michael Zwaagstra

We do students no favours when we give them marks they don’t really deserve.

Alberta government should keep AIMCo free from government intervention

(Appeared in the Calgary Sun) by Steven Globerman and Tegan Hill

The government may promise to use pension assets to curry favour with specific voters.

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