This report identifies systemic neglect and carelessness within the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure's contracts with private roadbuilders. The author's review of over 250 Ministry contracts illustrates a pervasive pattern of negligence as basic accountability measures such as price breakdowns, contract completion dates, late penalties and performance deposits are only used sporadically if at all. 

A review of international econometrics studies on the pros and cons of privatization and semi-privatization waste collection suggests full privatization can cause more headaches than it’s worth. The review of decades’ worth of studies concludes there is no empirical evidence to support the claim that privatizing waste collection services is more cost efficient. The academic literature points to two key factors that end up being costly for governments who fully privatize waste collection: lack of competition in the waste collection sector and large, often unaccounted for adm

This study uses the Canadian Living Wage Framework to calculate the living wage for Halifax. It takes into account major expenses as well as taxes and transfers for families raising young children in Halifax based on a 35 hour work week for 52 weeks. This calculation ensures a standard of living that promotes well-being and social inclusion for the diversity of families in our community, including single parent families and unattached individuals. 

This report suggests that the federal budget’s claims regarding who would benefit from doubling the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) annual contribution ceiling are erroneous. The analysis finds that the government's claims that raising the annual TFSA contribution ceiling from $5,500 to $10,000 would disproportionately benefit lower- and middle-income Canadians use misleading income groupings and excludes data to show a distributional impact that is directly opposite to the one it actually has.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the west coast of Canada have been heralded as economic salvation for the province of British Columbia. This report undertakes a reality check that reveals several major problems with this narrative, both in the stewardship of finite non-renewable resources by provincial and federal governments, and in the environmental implications of large-scale development.