New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs ranks highest for fiscal management among recent and current Canadian premiers

Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada's Premiers, 2022

• This report assesses the relative fiscal performance of Canadian premiers (eight current and three former) based on government spending, taxes, and debt and deficits up to fiscal year 2021/22.

• Overall, the premiers ranked (of 10) and scored (of 100), as follows:

  • 1^st Blaine Higgs, NB (75.8)
  • 2^nd Brian Pallister,* MB (63.8)
  • 3^rd Doug Ford, ON (60.6)
  • 4^th Stephen McNeil*/Iain Rankin,* NS (60.4)
  • 5^th John Horgan, BC (56.1)
  • 6^th Jason Kenney,* AB (53.0)
  • 7^th Dennis King, PE (52.7)
  • 8^th François Legault, QC (41.1)
  • 9^th Scott Moe, SK (40.8)
  • 10^th Andrew Furey, NL (40.0))

  *indicates former premier

• Premier Higgs ranked highest on government spending (with a score of 98.9) ahead of McNeil/Rankin (89.1) and Pallister (86.6). Meanwhile, four premiers didn’t score above 50: Horgan (48.0), King (43.3), Moe (4.9), and Legault (0.9).
• Premier Kenney led the pack by some margin on taxes (with a score of 82.3). The Atlantic Canadian premiers scored lowest on this measure: Higgs (7th), Furey (8th), King (9th), and McNeil/Rankin (10th).
• On debt and deficits, Premier Higgs ranked highest (scoring 100.0) just ahead of Premier King (90.8). Two premiers failed to score above 50: Furey (27.0), and Kenney (0.0).