[8] During this tenure at TD, he participated in a variety of public policy initiatives, including serving as an advisory panel member of Bob Rae’s review of Ontario post-secondary education (the "Rae Report"),[9] serving on the Task Force for Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults of the Toronto City Summit Alliance (now, the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance),[10] chairing the Labour Market Ministers’ Advisory Panel on Labour Market Information,[11] and co-chairing a Toronto Financial Services Alliance Working Group to establish a global risk management institute in Canada.
[13] In July 2010, he testified to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on the planned replacement of the mandatory long-form with a voluntary National Household Survey, stating: "I think the data could actually be worse than not having anything.
"[14] He was appointed the Donald Matthews Faculty Fellowship on Global Public Policy at Queen's University in June 2010,[15] and co-chair of the C. D. Howe Institute’s Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness Council in March 2011.
[20] Moreover, the commission warned that: "We can no longer assume a resumption of Ontario’s traditional strong economic growth and the continued prosperity on which the province has built its public services.
Unless policy-makers act swiftly and boldly to prevent such an outcome, Ontario faces a series of deficits that would undermine the province’s economic and social future.
[22] The 543-page report included 362 specific recommendations for restoring Ontario's fiscal balance by 2017, including: various measures to contain health care cost growth at 2.5% annually; limiting spending growth to 1% and 1.5% respectively for primary and postsecondary education (compared with current 3 to 5%), including ending full-day kindergarten and increasing class sizes;[23] elimination or reduction of sector-specific business subsidies, including the feed-in-tariff program subsidizing solar and wind generation;[24] reducing public sector pension benefits rather than increasing contributions;[25] major reforms to provincial agencies and Crown corporations to enhance revenue streams; and investigation into increased user fees for water, electricity and parking.