Leaders of the Assembly of First Nations are urging their people to defeat the Conservatives on Oct. 19. Vote Liberal or NDP, is the message, but not Conservative. “We can mitigate the damages by voting for a different government in this upcoming...
Year: 2015
Provinces the key to resource revenue sharing with First Nations
Resource-revenue sharing has emerged as the next Big Idea for First Nations. Like most Big Ideas, it seems simple, but in reality is full of legal difficulties and unintended economic consequences. Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations...
The dangers of driver’s licence suspensions
Make the scofflaws pay. And if they won’t pay, punish ’em. There’s an understandable lack of public sympathy for deadbeats such as parents who skip out on family support payments or drivers who rack up huge parking ticket fines. And one of the...
Derail interswitching policies
Forcing rail carriers to ship a competitor’s cars harms profitability and distorts the investment market The winter before last, Canadians endured their coldest-ever winter. On the rail lines, deliveries were slowed significantly, creating a backlog of grain and...
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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...
FN Election Laws should be Standardized
Band custom election codes may not always be what they are cracked up to be. This should be a warning for Manitoba First Nations that come under these systems. Band custom allows an Indigenous community to be removed from the Indian Act's electoral processes and...
Too many educators believe that handwriting is obsolete. Nonsense
Many progressive educators believe that handwriting is obsolete in the 21st century. It isn’t hard to see how they came to this conclusion. Computers are everywhere and an increasing number of schools expect students, even those in Grade 1, to do their work on...
Handwriting is Still an Important Skill
Many progressive educators believe that handwriting is obsolete in the 21st century. It isn’t hard to see how they came to this conclusion. Computers are everywhere and an increasing number of schools expect students, even those in grade 1, to do their work on...
No-Zero Policies In Our Schools
Michael Zwaagstra is interviewed by Peter Watt on Alberta Morning news about no-zero policies.
It’s in the Public Interest to Pay Attention to Landlords’ Needs
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 bad...
How the Elvis Presley Doctrine Blocked Keystone XL
This article was written by Robert W. Murray and Christopher Sands and originally appeared in The National Interest. In his history of popular culture and the U.S. presidency, What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched and Obama Tweeted, Tevi Troy relates an anecdote about a...
How the Elvis Presley Doctrine Blocked Keystone XL
In his history of popular culture and the U.S. presidency, What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched and Obama Tweeted, Tevi Troy relates an anecdote about a White House meeting between then-president Richard Nixon and rock ‘n’ roll sensation Elvis Presley. Elvis...
Water a Risky Business
Water is still a major issue on many First Nations across Canada, but should Manitoba bands be overly concerned? Just recently, Tsal'alh First Nation, a B.C.-based band, announced they are banning the sale of bottled water in their community. The move is designed...
Accessibility Needs to be Part of the Debate Over the Future of the Beer Store
Recent revelations about the Ontario government’s relationship with the Beer Store have led to renewed interest in reforming Ontario’s byzantine liquor regulations. Many of the policy implications have been discussed ad nauseum, but one remains curiously absent from...