In the context of student protests over Quebec tuition fees, my friend Luan Ngo has just written a very informative blog post on Quebec's fiscal situation.

While I encourage readers to read his full post, I do want to use the present space to make mention of three important points he makes:

- On a per capita basis, Quebec spends more on government programs than most other Canadian provinces.

- Residents of Quebec pay more personal incomes taxes than any other province.

- Quebec's debt-to-GDP ratio is significantly higher than that any other Canadian province.

The federal government has failed to take up an historic opportunity to lock in ultra-low interest rates on long-term Government of Canada bonds.

Statistics Canada reported recently that the annual inflation rate remained 2.9 per cent and the Bank of Canada's core rate remained 2.1 per cent in November.

The monthly increase in consumer prices slowed to 0.1 per cent in November from 0.3 per cent in October. The monthly increase in core prices slowed to 0.1 per cent in November from 0.2 per cent in October.

Inflation remains modest and should not deter the Bank of Canada from keeping interest rates low, and perhaps reducing them, to support our fragile economy and labour market.

The OECD's new assessment of the macro-economic situation makes for pretty grim reading. And their forecast of very sluggish global growth (just 1.6 per cent for the OECD area in 2012) is based on an increasingly incredible view that the Eurozone will "muddle through" and experience only a mild recession.

They do not seem to have convinced even themselves that this is really the most likely outcome.

I was in Cannes last week with CLC President Ken Georgetti for the G20 Labour Summit. (I know, tough job.)

This event was arranged by the International Trade Union Confederation with the support of the French Presidency of the G20.

So, the 2 per cent inflation target has been renewed as it now stands. (Take that, House of Commons Finance Committee, which is holding hearings on the issue next week.)

Governments around the world are heading down a path to economic suicide.

So said Nobel Prize-winning former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, to hundreds of well-heeled financiers and decision-makers who paid a bundle to hear him in Toronto.

With a voice as gruff as gravel, and an energy bristling with urgency, he told governments in Canada and the rest of the world now is the moment to address unmet needs, and use underutilized resources. Failure to do so would unnecessarily prolong the tough times.

Addressing the 5th Toronto Forum on Global Cities, Stiglitz challenged leaders who say it is time for government to get their fiscal houses in order by cutting.

The Euro deal at least averted an immediate banking crisis and induced temporary market euphoria, but it is not going to provide a lasting solution to the Euro sovereign debt crisis because it will block any lasting recovery for the European economy.