Dear John,

As one of our email list subscribers, you’re probably familiar with our motto here at the Fraser Institute: if it matters, we measure it!

That is particularly true lately – in the last couple weeks alone, we have released several timely studies on policies that directly impact the lives of Canadians.

First, we released a study comparing 33 peer countries’ COVID debt spending and their resulting economic performance. The study found that despite accumulating more debt (as a share of the economy) than every other country except Japan, Canada’s economy underperformed compared to our peers.

We underperformed on both economic growth and unemployment rates in 2020 and 2021. All the record debt accumulation simply put more costs on Canadians and contributed to driving up inflation.

Second, just days after the federal government announced the first phase of its plan to reach zero plastic waste by 2030, we released a study that shows such policies will impose costs on Canadian society while having little to no environmental benefit!

Not only is Canada’s contribution to global aquatic plastic pollution virtually non-existent, but even the small reduction in environmental harm is likely to be offset by increased environmental harms stemming from replacements for the banned plastic products.

As the government acknowledges, “The proposed Regulations would prevent approximately 1.6 million tonnes of plastics from entering the waste stream over the analytical period but would also add about 3.2 million tonnes of other materials to the waste stream from the use of substitutes”.

John, these are just two recent examples of the quality, peer-reviewed studies we release every week.

Our research moves the needle on public discourse and gives Canadians the facts they need to hold their governments accountable!

If you like the work we do, please consider making a donation today. We don’t accept government funding – we rely entirely on supporters like you!

Thank you for your continued support,

Sincerely,

Niels Veldhuis
President
The Fraser Institute