Cities are amazing places, bringing together all sorts of different people. Different ideas and customs often mix and multiply, providing new and exciting opportunities for work and play. And this intellectual and cultural fermentation does require a certain density of population. But is denser always better?
Year: 2013
Slow the Flow… Save the Lake: Throwing money at Lake Winnipeg won’t help much, but some ditch-digging might
On Thursday, the province announced a new “Lake Friendly Accord” intended to leverage $1 billion worth of investment into ways to improve the ecological state of the vast Lake Winnipeg watershed, which stretches from the Rocky Mountains in the west down to the edge of South Dakota and then east into Canadian Shield between Atikokan and Thunder Bay.
Study highlights need to unify public and private in conservation
A study released by Reed Watson, a research fellow with the Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center, correctly identifies the problem of conservation. The full study can be accessed here. That problem being the so-called split wildlife estate where...
Manitoba’s PST increase is for?
“Bad news all at once; good news over time.” That was the advice Niccolo Machivalli had for the eponymous Prince in his most famous work. This maxim has clearly not been lost on Manitoba's provincial government. Their recent decision to circumvent the requirement for...
Featured News
Alberta Government Ignores, Expensively, the Axiom That Government Should Stay Out of Business
The conservative or free market foundational principle that government should stay out of business was ignored by the United Conservative Party of Alberta and the premier of the provincial government. Their regime ‘invested’ what has come to be revealed as $1.3...
What Is A University Student?
As a result of government and university policies in both the U.S. and Canada, university students are not seen as individuals with records of educational achievement and the potential for both success in higher education and for contributions beyond in the wider...
Media Release – High Canadian Airfares are Hurting Airports and Our Economy: A New Policy is Required for Airport Transportation
Canadians are crossing the border into the United States to fly from their airports because departing from Canada is so much more expensive. The tax portion of the Canadian air ticket is ratcheted up with hefty federal fees and taxes. The US sees air transportation as essential to economic growth, while Canada sees it as a source of tax revenue.
Politics Without Romance
James Buchanan died on Wednesday, at age 93, and the world lost one of its most creative economic thinkers. Though a free-marketeer to his bones, he made his biggest mark and won the Nobel Prize in 1986 for his work studying economic incentives in government.
Sell Yosemite, Hold a Smithsonian Yard Sale: Let’s see, the Bureau of Land Management holds 253 million acres. At $2,000 per acre . . .
Facing the “fiscal cliff,” perhaps the president and Congress should start thinking in terms of the “foreclosure crisis.” All lenders, whether a local home-loan bank or the Chinese government, expect to be repaid either from the borrower’s income or, if that is insufficient, from the sale of assets. Where does that leave the U.S. government?
The Kyoto Scorecard: The U.N.’s anticarbon scheme didn’t work out as planned.
The Kyoto Protocol on climate change used to be a big deal. So big that the future of humanity was said to hinge on its implementation. Did you know it expired on New Year’s Day? We’re guessing you didn’t, but don’t worry. It’s no big deal.
EPA’s Carbon Regs not Based on Sound Science
In 2007, a divided Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must treat carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as “pollutants,” and must therefore analyze whether the increasing concentrations in atmospheric carbon might reasonably be anticipated to endanger human health and welfare. The court may be on the verge of facing this issue once again.
First Nation Treaties Don’t Guarantee Prosperity: Aboriginal leaders can find solutions close to home
The Idle No More protests being staged by First Nations in Manitoba is an opportunity to discuss how indigenous communities can improve at home.
“Politics Without Romance” – James Buchanan RIP
I am generally positive about the Harper Government in Ottawa but the biggest area where they fall down on policy is the failure to heed Buchanan’s observations on transfers to governments.
Metis ruling may jeopardize important Metis successes
A new Federal Court ruling may jeopardize Metis successes if it encourages dependency on Ottawa.
‘Hope springs eternal’ in the realm of New Year’s wishes
My third wish was for our provinces to take concrete steps to get their finances under control. Yet, once again, debt and deficits grew in every province except Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador.