Stretching the public purse: budgetary responses to COVID-19 in Canada

Abstract

Purpose

This paper summarizes the emergency measures taken by Canada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and discusses the key political, economic, and social factors that influenced the design of these measures.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper collects the announcement of emergency measures in the Canadian provincial and federal governments between March 18 and May 30, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and categorizes them by type of emergency response.

Findings

Canada has a diversified response of emergency measures mediated by its various provinces. This suggests that Canada may be more robust to biological and economic threats than nations that have less policy diversity.

Originality/value

Canada's diversity of emergency measures allows for several different avenues for future research, including countercyclical spending by subnational polities, organizational diversity's effect on resilience, the effect of tax breaks versus direct or indirect payments, effectiveness of public-private partnerships, and the effect of transparency on citizen satisfaction.

Citation

Cho, C.H. and Kurpierz, J. (2020), "Stretching the public purse: budgetary responses to COVID-19 in Canada", Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 771-783. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-05-2020-0070