Tinkering with a system in clear need of an overhaul is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. In March, the Winnipeg lab of Intertek, a global commodities testing firm, received an unusual request. Manitoba farmer Paul Orsak brought in wheat samples from...
Year: 2015
Harper would have the upper hand in a minority House
Once again, minority government seems like a possible outcome of a federal election, so let’s look at some scenarios. They all involve a double helix of constitutional rules and political calculations. Start with the constitutional parameters. A sitting prime...
Livable Vancouver?
Vancouver — along with Melbourne and Vienna — ranks at or near the top of The Economist and Mercer lists of the world’s most livable cities almost every year. These ratings are of justifiable pride to public officials and residents. It may be less...
Resource Revenue Sharing, Property Rights and Economic Incentives
Dr. Flanagan's report explores the demands of First Nations to sharing of revenue generated by the exploitation of natural resources in Canada. The report finds that, though the demand for general sharing of resource revenue has received some support, it faces both...
Featured News
The Man who Saved the Plains Indians
At the time of Confederation, Canada’s Plains Indians were in a desperate situation. The same European-introduced guns and horses that resulted in a briefly glorious golden age for them had also resulted in constant inter-tribal warfare and the rapid disappearance of...
Renewed Talk of Abolishing the Indian Act
Political attacks on the Indian Act are back in the news, and that is a good thing. However, Canadian politicians, including First Nation politicians, need a credible plan about what to do before we pull out the champagne. Attacking the Indian Act is not a big deal...
Measuring the Size and Cost of Manitoba’s and Saskatchewan’s Public Sectors
In September 2014, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) released a policy paper that looked at the size and cost of Atlantic Canada’s public sector. AIMS researchers Ben Eisen and Shaun Fantauzzo examined Statistics Canada data to empirically assess the...
Time for a New Western Strategy in Ukraine
To date, the western strategy towards the ongoing war in Ukraine has been a failure. Not only has there been no cessation of violence, but the violence in certain areas of Eastern Ukraine is actually worsening, and the world is no closer to any diplomatic solution....
Ottawa, First Nations Should Narrow Poverty Gap
First Nations poverty may be Canada's most important moral issue in generations. Perry Bellegarde, the newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), cites United Nations statistics showing the tragic gap between First Nations and the rest of...
Ottawa, First Nations Should Narrow Poverty Gap
First Nations poverty may be Canada’s most important moral issue in generations. Perry Bellegarde, the newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), cites United Nations statistics showing the tragic gap between First Nations and the rest of...
Red Tape: Canada’s Hidden Tax (PowerPoint Slides)
Power Point presentation from Red Tape: Canada's Hidden Tax. A Breakfast on the Frontier event held in Winnipeg on January 20, 2015 with Elliot Sims. Listen to his speech here: http://archive.fcpp.org/posts/red-tape-canadas-hidden-tax-speech View the...
Red Tape: Canada’s Hidden Tax (Speech)
Elliot Sims speech and Q&A at a Frontier Centre for Public Policy Breakfast entitled: Red Tape: Canada's Hidden Tax. View the Power Point Presentation here: http://archive.fcpp.org/posts/red-tape-canadas-hidden-tax-powerpoint-slides
The Critical Need for Endangered Species Reform
As the federal election looms, a hailstorm of criticism is being launched against the Harper government’s failure on environmental issues. Already the media has informed us that we are not protecting our caribou and that Canada is an international pariah with...
Middle-Income Housing Affordability: International Situation
This article was written by Wendell Cox and originally appeared in the Huffington Post. Hong Kong, Sydney, Vancouver and the San Francisco Bay Area have the worst middle-income housing affordability in 9 nations, according to 11th Annual Demographia International...
The needs of landlords
Rumors abound about "slumlords," as there are landlords that fail to meet the basic needs of their renters and are driven solely by profit. But landlords can also be your average pensioner or middle-income couple, and they have their own stories to share of...