Common Sense Education gives parents, teachers and students a direct window into the foolish fads that afflict our public education system. This eighth of ten episodes exposes the real reasons behind much of the advocacy done by teachers' unions. The series is written...
Year: 2013
Taxes, Bureaucrats Should Top Liberal Concerns: Party has chance to change policy landscape
The Manitoba Liberals may make gains next election, so they should adopt some winning policy ideas.
Common Sense Education VII: Standardized Testing
Common Sense Education gives parents, teachers and students a direct window into the foolish fads that afflict our public education system. This seventh of ten episodes emphasizes the value of standardized testing as part of a balanced approach to measuring student...
Common Sense Education VI: Benefits Of Direct Instruction
Common Sense Education gives parents, teachers and students a direct window into the foolish fads that afflict our public education system. This sixth of ten episodes shows why direct instruction and subject matter knowledge is important for students. The series is...
Featured News
Process, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Accountability and Transparency Inspectorate, ‘PEEATI’
A litany of disastrous decisions have sometimes cost lives and definitely many billions of dollars. Effectively cancelling the Global Public Health Intelligence Network; the failure to implement the pandemic preparedness protocols developed by Ottawa’s public health...
Foreign Influence in Canadian Economy?
Foreign influence or interference has become a mediatic topic. The fear and suspicion of interference in the elections and democratic process have been in news headlines. For the western countries, the suspicion bears on Russia and China. Revisionist powers have a...
Suggestions for the Next Liberal Platform
The Liberal Party of Canada has now chosen its leader. Now the tough job of putting together a platform to meet Canada’s economic challenges begins. This column suggests some policy measures that would help modernize Canada’s economy.
Overconfidence: the Achilles heel of global warming alarmists
What Canada 2020 panelists and organizers seem to not understand is that all planning for the future involves sensible risk assessment. This includes considering, not just the possible impacts of climate change, but also the likelihood of them actually coming about. And that means dealing with uncertainties. Lecturing Canadians about fictional global warming certainty when future climate states are anything but certain, does us all a disservice and, in the long run will sway no one not already committed to the scare.
Secure Property Rights A Necessity: Manitoba needs to tighten loose land ownership rules
Manitoba has received a mixed grade on the Frontier Centre’s inaugural Canadian Property Rights Index, which measures property rights protections in all 10 provinces and three territories.
Manitoba’s Bad News Budget Ignores Grim Fiscal Realities
Manitoba is in a worrisome fiscal position. Unfortunately, the latest budget does nothing to fix the provinces long term challenges.
Ontario Opposition Parties Should Embrace Toll Roads: We Can’t Build Our Way Out of Traffic Congestion
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynn recently floated the idea of tolling Toronto area highways to pay for the region’s ageing roads and bridges. Opposition parties argue that this is merely a tax grab. In reality, road tolls are the best way to fight traffic congestion, and are a fair way to pay for roads.
Carbon Tax…Are Republicans Really That Stupid?
As much as I admire former Secretary of State George Shultz, and because I do, I was totally flummoxed by a recent Wall Street Journal article he co-authored with economist Nobel laureate Gary Becker. Incredulously, the two senior fellows at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution expressed support for a “revenue neutral” tax on carbon.
Conflicted, Inept: Manitoba’s Government and Budget Fails
Manitoba's beleaguered NDP government has tabled its budget for 2013-14, a tale long on failure, excuses and self-serving platitudes, while short on self-criticism, forthcoming reportage and analysis. The government projects another annual deficit, despite an...
BCE Acquisition of Astral Media Round 2 Part 2
Last week participants filed their objections to the second BCE application to acquire Astral Media. There were 834 interventions in total, many of which are one-page letters of support or opposition. There are three different categories of organizations that filed...
Toward More Prosperous Cities: Cities should fight poverty, not increase it
Beyond the rule of law and security, the most important public policy objectives should be to achieve wide-spread affluence and eradicate poverty. Cities, urban policy, and urban transport are means to facilitate this objective, not ends themselves.