The Frontier Centre for Public Policy released a report today focusing on how to improve and expand telecommunications technology in rural and remote Saskatchewan. The report offers a model based on best practices from rural communities around the world. Frontier...
Year: 2014
Mediocre Education Policies Lead to Mediocre Results
The results of Manitoba students on the latest Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) tests are, to say the least, very disappointing. Over the last fifteen years, the reading, math, and science scores have declined from near the Canadian average to the bottom...
Universities Should Protect Their Interns
It is estimated that as many as 300,000 young Canadians work as unpaid interns, and there are moves being made to regulate the practice as it affects university students. An NDP Member of Parliament has introduced a private member's bill aimed at curbing abuses, and...
Communities Should Say “No” to Youth Curfews
This Halloween, children younger than 16 will not be allowed outside without an adult after 7:00pm in Bonnyville, Alberta. The Halloween curfew has been around for decades, but some parents requested that the curfew time be extended an hour, or maybe two. But the...
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Canadians on the Move, to Smaller Communities
The Canadian Dream is increasingly being realized in smaller areas For decades, Canadians moved to the larger cities (census metropolitan areas, or CMAs) with their economic opportunities. The latest estimates indicate that CMAs have 72 per cent of the nation’s...
Leadership Needed in Canadian Healthcare; Apply Within
When the Premiers were first called to a sit-down lunch to talk about healthcare with Prime Minister Trudeau, there was plenty of talk about the potential for systemic change, innovation and accountability. It seemed that Canadians and their leaders were finally on...
First Nations Should Be Allowed To Own Their Land
It was three years ago that Stephen Harper's Conservative government said it planned to introduce the First Nations Property Ownership Act, which would expand property rights for Canada's Aboriginal people, but we still haven't seen the legislation. Such an Act would...
There’s No Such Thing as a Free Parking Spot
A Calgary non-profit made headlines recently when it was revealed that the organization was required to build a parking lot for an affordable housing complex that is effectively empty. The housing is provided specifically for helping people transition from out of...
It Shouldn’t Be Up to Industries to Decide If They Are Exclusive
As of last year, people in Ontario who wish to cut hair for a living must be a member of the Ontario College of Trades, which has mandated a 600 percent increase in certification fees for hairstylists. The newly formed Ontario Hairstylists Association claims that the...
Clearing Up The Confusion About Carbon And Carbon Dioxide
In the ongoing discussion about climate change, we are frequently misled about carbon, carbon dioxide and “carbon pollution.” Politicians and environmentalists use the terms interchangeably, when talking about the need to reduce our carbon emissions, or 'carbon...
Manitoba Needs to Reverse Its Steep Academic Decline
Manitoba has had fifteen years of academic decline in reading, math, and science. That is the track record of the current NDP government. Once near the Canadian average, Manitoba now sits second last out of the Canadian provinces. In a study recently released by the...
Frontier Centre Releases Pipe, Dam and Electricity Dreams: Burdening Manitoba’s Next Generation
Today the Frontier Centre fror Public Policy released its latest report, Pipe, Dam and Electricity Dreams: Burdening Manitoba’s Next Generation written by Andrew Pickford. On June 20, 2014, the Public Utilities Board panel provides its report to the Manitoban...
Pipe, Dam and Electricity Dreams
A decision will shortly be made about whether to build the Keeyask and Conawapa hydroelectric dams and the associated Bipole III transmission line, which could cost Manitoba billions of dollars. This paper argues that, if approved, this will burden the next generation...
It’s Time for Internal Canadian Free Trade
Since taking office in 2006, the Harper government has negotiated over 40 separate international trade agreements and has championed the idea of free trade around the world as a means of economic and political liberalization and progress. While Canada’s approach...
Here in Quebec, you’re only as free as you feel
Republished from the West Island Gazette. So, how free do you think you are? To be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty free, as freedom goes, over the last bit of time. My kids are almost out of the basement and in interesting jobs. I can almost stop worrying about them....