If First Nations started to tax band members and include that revenue in their annual budget, there could be measurable improvements in their overall quality of life. In recent years, First Nations have been given more opportunities to create their own independent tax...
Year: 2014
Time to Audit Elizabeth May
This month, Canada’s Green Party leader Elizabeth May published “Who We Are, Reflections on My Life and Canada”. It is an important book, because May is an energetic power broker in Ottawa, the provinces and abroad. Responsible for many powerful...
What We Can Learn from the City That Lost A Million Pounds
There are two types of people in Canadian cities: people who hate cars, and people who hate cyclists. Or so the perception goes. While it is true that many cities have seen bitter electoral feuds over bike lanes and urban sprawl, they are driven more by perception...
Transit And Roads Don’t Need To Compete
In local government, the assumption is often made that a good road system means that public transit must suffer, and vice versa. Sometime roadways and transit are at odds, when light rail or streetcar projects remove lanes of traffic, or when road design does not...
Featured News
Our Health Ministers Need to Take a Lesson from Hockey Coaches
Those of you who are tired of my rants about the demise of our once great health system will be pleased to know that this is my last editorial. I am retiring from the BCMJ Editorial Board; currently, I am the longest-serving member (more than 20 years). I have been a...
Zinchuk: Oilpatch Only Spending Half What It Spent in 2014
Back in the lofty, pre-Justin Trudeau government days of 2014, back when oil was booming, pipelines were planned to east and west coasts, and Alberta and Saskatchewan were swimming in money, around $81 billion was spent in capital expenditures (CAPEX) in the Canadian...
Frontier Centre Releases A Parents’ Guide to Common Sense Education in Alberta
Alberta parents who are frustrated with fuzzy math assignments, confusing report cards, and low academic standards are about to get much-needed help. Today, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy has released A Parents’ Guide to Common Sense Education in Alberta. This...
Lessons from Winnipeg on Vancouver’s Arbutus corridor
Two years ago, eight bright orange metal silos—each five-stories in height—appeared overnight on the land abutting rail giant, BNSF’s Winnipeg track. The rail corridor cuts through the heart of Winnipeg’s Tony River Heights neighbourhood. “An eyesore,” claimed one...
Students Should Decide Whether They Want To Be Part Of A Student Union
As classes resume at Canada's universities, students are paying mandatory fees of as much as 200 dollars each to student unions. These organizations do several things for students. They administer health and dental plans, fund a variety of activities including sports...
Parents Guide To Common Sense Education (CJME)
Education researcher Michael Zwaagstra has a new handbook coming out next month from the Frontier Centre. Parents’ guide to Common Sense Education in Saskatchewan covers issues ranging from standardized testing to report cards and teaching strategies. (CJME)
Mid-Sized Cities Can Attract Tourists by Being Themselves
People flock to major cities to take advantage of unique experiences. In theory, most of the types of activities tourists seek out can be replicated most anywhere, but people are willing to pay a large premium and go out of their way to see a show on Broadway, or eat...
B.C. Teachers Continue Strike (CBC)
Michael Zwaagstra discusses the B.C. teachers union strike on CBC's The Current. Should the make up of classes be part of teachers' contract talks?
All Sex Workers Can’t Be Lumped Into One Category
Discussions about Canada’s new prostitution laws rarely involve defining who is meant by the term “sex workers.” There are sex workers who want to work in the trade, those who work in the trade out of desperation, and victims of human trafficking. In order to have a...
‘Smart Growth’ Not Necessary To Protect Farms
Urban sprawl is still regarded as undesirable by city planners, but the arguments against it are changing. The planners have long maintained that limited development should be allowed beyond existing urban boundaries, as long as there are areas in the core that could...
Are Student Unions Relevant to Student Life?
Next month, university students will cough up money for tuition, textbooks, residence, and additional fees. Student fees, which include transit passes and health and dental insurance, range from $500 to $1000 a year at Canadian universities, of which approximately...