Archive: April, 2018

This report pulls together a number of databases so as to estimate the cost of recent regulatory changes governing patented pharmaceuticals. It compares the cost of patented innovative medicines with that of non-patented prescription medicines. That comparison is then used to make inferences regarding the annual cost of prolonging market exclusivity for a class of drugs similar to patented innovative medicines.

Consistent with the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s legislated mandate, this report provides PBO’s economic and fiscal outlook.

Recent changes to the Financial Administration Act require the Government of Canada to seek parliamentary approval to borrow in debt markets. The Government has done so with the Borrowing Authority Act, which came into force on 23 November 2017.

This report was prepared to address two areas of confusion that have arisen in committees and debates following Budget 2018:

1. How was this new debt aggregate calculated?
2. How should it be used to scrutinize government borrowing?

This report responds to a request of Mr. Pierre Poilievre (Carleton–CPC) to estimate the cost of establishing a guaranteed basic income program at the national level. PBO takes the policy parameters of Ontario’s basic income pilot project and applies them across the country to estimate the cost of a guaranteed basic income (GBI), and then compares the estimated cost to the current federal support for low income. The annual gross cost of expanding the Ontario Basic Income Pilot across the country would amount to an estimated $76.0 billion in 2018-2019. By 2022-2023, it would reach nearly $79.5 billion.