With green politics losing its moral high ground, there is a growing realization that climate change is just one policy priority among many that compete for limited resources and attention. That means, first, that climate politics will likely fall off its pedestal of being the Western world’s overarching priority. Second, the new sobriety could give more space to a third stream of climate politics between those who see warming as an unmitigated catastrophe that must be stopped at any cost, and those who reject global warming as a hoax.
Year: 2010
Why the Great Plains are Great Once Again
“The cities of the plains—from Dallas in the south through Omaha, Des Moines, and north to Fargo—have enjoyed strong job growth and in-migration from the rest of the country.”
Why The West Is Different: Nature and immigration shaped the West
The West isn’t anything like central Canada—and there are understandable reasons as to why.
Down with Doom: How the World Keeps Defying the Predictions of Pessimists
When I was a student, in the 1970s, the world was coming to an end. The adults told me so. They said the population explosion was unstoppable, mass famine was imminent, a cancer epidemic caused by chemicals in the environment was beginning, the Sahara desert was...
Featured News
Global Fragmentation: The False Hope and Unrealistic Promises of Global Development Goals
In September 2000, one hundred and ninety-one member states established the United Nations Millennium Development Goals:1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Achieve universal primary education; Promote gender equality and empower women; Reduce child mortality;...
What is the end Goal of Protests Over Residential School Graves?
In July, the Canadian prime minister denounced the arson and vandalism of Catholic churches across the country in the wake of the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential schools. After more than 1,100 unmarked graves were discovered at schools previously...
Media Release – Myths about Childcare Subsidies: The Frontier Centre looks at daycare facts
Is day care an unalloyed good? A new paper by Frontier’s Ben Eisen looks at the research literature and finds the benefits of daycare to be ambiguous, and that a universal childcare system is likely an overly expensive and inefficient policy option.
Big Deficits, Creaky Health Service: Something’s Got to Give
Even before the recession, provincial spending was on an unsustainable trajectory. Now revenues have fallen precipitously. Last month, former central bank governor David Dodge warned governments to get their fiscal houses in order. "Budget season is coming up," he...
Indigenous Capitalists, from BC to Peru
“The news that private ownership would be legal on Nisga’a land rippled out of the Nass River valley in November, reminding those who heard it of how things work for the rest of Canada’s First Nations. If you live on a reserve in this country, your home belongs to the Crown, effectively barring you from the single most important economic tool in Western society: credit.”
Myths about Childcare Subsidies: The facts on daycare
Is day care an unalloyed good? Policy Analyst Ben Eisen looks at the research literature and finds the benefits of daycare to be ambiguous, and that a universal childcare system is likely an overly expensive and inefficient policy option.
Climate Misinformation and Contradictions Continue
“Extreme cold weather across the Northern Hemisphere drew attention away from the leaked files from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) that showed how the entire work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was falsified. The cold simply isn’t supposed to happen.”
Transforming Manitoba: Easy federal transfers have made Manitoba Western Canada’s Outsider
Manitoba’s old style public sector model has placed the province firmly outside of western Canada’s mainstream.
Manitoba Can’t Get Any Respect
“In what almost seemed an afterthought, Manitoba, rather than being offered a seat at the table, was sent the paperwork for review.”
A Blight Grows in Brooklyn
“The issue is a form of government theft that the Supreme Court encouraged with its worst decision of the last decade — one that probably will be radically revised in this one.”
Survey Fails No-Fail Policy
“A new survey shows most Manitoba adults oppose a no-fail policy in schools, but the existence of such a policy is itself a mystery.”