Calgary's total tax burden per capita last year was almost a third higher than the average Prairie city, according to a new report released by a right-leaning think-tank. The report by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy drew swift criticism from aldermen on both...
Year: 2008
Who Could Object To Wind Power?
The biggest problem with wind is that it doesn’t always blow. There are lots of days when Toronto’s monument to civic virtue couldn’t even power my toaster. Inconveniently, these times of low production tend to coincide with times of high demand. So no matter how many turbines you put up, you always need backup power.
Media Release – New report compares municipal government’s financial performance
New study released compares the financial health and financial reporting standards of Canada’s 79 most populous municipalities.
The Unexamined Beast of Local Government
Paying local government the attention it deserves.
Featured News
Timeless Wisdom – The Politics of Successful Structural Reform
It’s a well-known pattern in public policy – profligate politicians damaging their economies with out-of-control spending, massive borrowing and higher taxes – inevitably leading to fiscal crisis, sharp declines in growth and ultimately rapidly falling currency value...
Canada’s National Hysteria in the 21st Century
Mass hysteria is the spontaneous manifestation of a particular behaviour by many people. There are numerous historical examples: Middle Age nuns at a convent in France spontaneously began to meow like cats; at another convent, nuns began biting one another. In...
McGuinty and Charest: a fine bromance
“My dispute is with Ottawa,” he told reporters at the end of Ontario Chamber of Commerce “economic summit” to which he had invited Mr. Charest. “Ottawa makes the rules and we have to play by them.” There is a surface logic to this argument but it ignores the fact that Ottawa was hoping in 2006 that the provinces could reach a consensus on equalization reform. It never came.
Free Market Reforms Transforming Health Care in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is the best example of Europe’s move toward market-oriented reform. Before U.S. officials devote even more taxpayer dollars to health care, they should take a long look at how the Dutch have improved their health care system by reducing the government’s role in it.
Governments Sleepwalking Into Water Crisis
Governments, if they are not careful, are allowing communities to sleep walk towards a water supply crisis. Governments are not dealing with long term supply needs and are potentially jeopardizing the future economic prospects of rural communities.
Root Causes Of The Financial Crisis: A Primer
All of this leads to the bottom line. It is crucial that smart growth’s toxic land rationing policies be dismantled as quickly as possible. Otherwise, there could be further smart growth economic crises ahead, or, perhaps even worse, a further freezing of economic opportunity for future generations.
Government Investment in Private Enterprises
Sometimes governments invest in or provide investment subsidies to private enterprises for reasons of national security or in times of national emergency. While the specifics of such intervention may be contentious, few would question the necessity. However, sometimes...
Police In The Real World
So why do we need more policemen? To enforce laws, of course. But this raises the question, “which laws?” And this is the main issue in the real world. Most of the laws that “policemen on our streets” enforce are, like in 17th-century Paris, designed more to protect the state apparatus than the subjects’ liberties.
Expert Touts Private Care
Countries such as Australia, New Zealand and France have private health-care businesses that run alongside the public health-care sector, which is what Chaoulli has been lobbying the provincial and federal governments to consider since 1992
The Financial Crisis: Bubbles Deflating Worldwide
The mortgage meltdown is much more than an American affair. Real estate bubbles have developed in all major English speaking countries – US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Where prices will finally settle, no one knows. Some analysts soothe the market claiming that the bottom is near.
Why It’s Really “This Year” Country In Saskatchewan Tax Cuts Politics
Saskatchewan’s 2008 tax cuts: did Saskatchewan strike the right balance between immediate universal relief and creating the environment for long term growth?