Alberta has the most economic freedom in Canada but only ranks 30th in North America
A new Fraser Institute report shows Alberta continues to lead Canada in economic freedom, despite being 30th across North America.
The public policy think tank says economic freedom increases when people are able to make more of their own decisions, such as what to buy, where and how to work, and how to start and run a business.
This year’s report has four indices: three sub-national indices that measure restrictions on economic freedom at the province/state and local level in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, and an all-government index, which adds federal restrictions on economic freedom so that people can compare jurisdictions between the three countries.
Fraser Institute
In the all-government index, which includes federal policies, Alberta was the highest-ranking Canadian province, tied with West Virginia at 30th overall.
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The next freest province was British Columbia, which ranks 47th (tied with Rhode Island), followed by Ontario (49th), Manitoba (54th), and Saskatchewan (55th).
Newfoundland & Labrador was the lowest-ranked Canadian province in the all-government index at 60th. The next-lowest was Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, tied at 58th, followed by New Brunswick at 57th.
Seven of the 10 Canadian provinces rank below all 50 U.S. states in all-government economic freedom.
“High taxes, high levels of government spending and overly-burdensome regulations continue to depress economic freedom across much of Canada, which makes it harder for businesses to thrive and create jobs,” said Matthew Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of this year’s report.
The State of New Hampshire was again the top-ranked jurisdiction in North America.
The Economic Freedom of North America report (co-authored by Dean Stansel, JosĆ© Torra and Ćngel CarriĆ³n-TavĆ”rez) is an offshoot of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index, the result of more than a quarter century of work by more than 60 scholars, including three Nobel laureates.
Detailed tables for each country and subnational jurisdiction can be found on the Fraser Institute website.