Every time a natural disaster strikes in North America, reports emerge of retailers increasing prices in some locations. This, of course, is generally prohibited, and leads to public shaming. There are, however, good reasons why price gouging needs to happen. The most...
Year: 2013
The sad state of conservatism in Canada
Senate scandals, admissions of smoking crack, threats to fight in the legislature, and an overall lack of innovative ideas: the crisis facing Canadian conservatism today span from the local to the federal and is being felt across the country. There are a variety of...
B.C. First Nation leads historic and controversial move toward aboriginal private home ownership
Source: Tristin Hopper, The National Post, 8 Nov 2013 This month, in a remote corner of northern B.C., just a few kilometres from the Alaskan border, three modest houses entered Canadian First Nations history. The residences, all located on the self-governed lands of...
The Biggest News From The Winnipeg Police Service Review Is What Was Excluded
The Winnipeg Police Service operational review is making a lot of noise, but the biggest news is what’s not in the report. While the report did get into issues such as the WPS not taking full advantage of its CrimeStat software for tracking and predicting where crime...
Featured News
A Year of LNG Royalties/Taxes from a Single Pipeline Could Pay for …
Sitting on top of one of the world’s largest and richest natural resource warehouses is turning into quite a disconcerting distraction. While much of Canada’s population – the heavily urban part for whom “rural” means Whistler, Muskoka, or Mont Tremblant – likes to...
Medical Martial Law – Never Again
The economic upheaval now roiling over the world’s financial markets, rapidly lowering living standards, and even threatening to freeze Europeans this winter, is all directly related to the radical decision most western leaders took in March of 2020., when a new...
It’s Time For Government to Start Thinking Bigger
When governments hand out cash for infrastructure projects, it’s easy to think small. Politicians love summer festivals, hockey rinks, small craft harbours and city parks. The money gets out the door quickly and everyone can see the results. Grants can be geographically matched to political objectives. And projects typically face little opposition.
Carbon Advocates Fiddle the Figures: They can’t even decide by how much B.C’s carbon tax reduced consumption
Carbon people love studies proving that somehow a green economy forced by regulation and public money is going to work. In reality, the results are a financial disaster. Studies are inaccurately pinpointing the impact of green initiatives and fail to account for additional reasons why carbon use was reduced.
Aussie Restoration: The perils of a carbon tax and other lessons from Down Under.
For more than a decade Australia had one of the world’s most successful center-right governments, and on Saturday it voted overwhelmingly for a restoration. After six years of Labor Party melodrama and leftward economic policies, Australians returned a Liberal government to power under new leader Tony Abbott. There are lessons here for conservatives in the U.S. and Europe.
The Triumph of Tony Abbott: Derided as unelectable, Australia’s next prime minister made his convictions into an asset.
According to the conventional wisdom of just a few years ago, Tony Abbott should never have become prime minister of Australia. The doyens of the press gallery had marked him as a right-wing throwback to a bygone era.
Understanding Public Private Partnerships
On Sept 25th, residents of Regina will vote in a referendum for the first time in more than 20 years.
The referendum, organized by unions, will decide whether the council is allowed to proceed with its unanimous decision to construct a new wastewater treatment plant via a Public Private Partnership [P3], or whether they will be forced to use a traditional construction method.
Last week, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy held an event in Regina aimed at raising awareness in the community about Public Private Partnerships and how they work.
The sold-out event was opened by the Honourable Don McMorris, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Highways and Infrastructure, who gave us an overview of the province’s plans for a large number of new P3s that will go ahead regardless of the result of the city vote.
Harm Reduction News
A Lancet study finds e-cigarettes appear to cut consumption of smokers. After six months, however, the 57% of e-cigarette users had halved the number of cigarettes smoked each day compared with 41% in those using patches. I find it strange that some people want to ban...
Municipal Mergers – One Small Positive Step
The Manitoba Government has now decided that one size fits all does not work well for guiding municipal mergers. That is a small positive step for the know it all people in government. The next step is to understand that local municipalities have been entering into...
Government regulation threatens homeless meal program
A program in southern Ontario that serves meals to homeless people is being threatened because it is using home cooked meals.
The State has no business with the grannies of the nation
There are dozens and dozens of things that are good for people, for children, for families. But does that mean that the government should pay for every identifiable good? There is no doubt that grandparents are crucial influences in people's lives. One who...