The federal government has made misguided mortgage policies in recent years. The first, in 2015, was to raise the amount that Canadian Mortgage and Housing Company (CMHC) mortgages required for a down payment. The second, in 2016, was to increase the stress test. The...
Canada must demonstrate federal leadership and all provinces and territories must come together as a country to support our energy economy, given its relative importance to Canada’s entire economy. If it does not, Canada will continue to see its energy sector fall...
On Aug.1, the provincial government will announce its back-to-school plan for the fall. It is likely that K-12 classes will be in-person rather than online. Good thing too. It’s one thing for university students to take courses online. All professors have to do is to...
Despite concerns ranging from health risks to espionage, the fifth-generation technology for mobile connectivity (5G) has prompted a global adoption race—and there is no going back. Contrary to conspiracy theories, it is a necessary and positive step toward a fully...
There’s no doubt that summer 2021 was a scorcher. The United Kingdom’s Met Office revealed how temperatures exceeded 30°C in September for only the seventh time in history. In Vancouver, Canada, 2021 was the second hottest summer ever recorded, with daily average...
Coercion and vandalism have become commonplace tactics to force insurers off mining and oil development projects throughout the world. Ironically, that clears the way for companies with deep pockets and petrostates whose goal is geopolitical supremacy, not...
Last week there was yet another “round dance” held at Portage and Main, this one was in support of the “hereditary chiefs” of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation blocking authorized construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia. In spite of a court...
“God giveth and the government taketh away,” goes the old, wry saying. God aside, it is people who won't or can't give when the government takes away. A recent survey of generosity in the United States and Canada gives even more proof. The more centralist and...
Hydraulic fracturing has its risk, but as we show in this video, scientific research suggests they are rare. Meanwhile, the process yields substantial economic gains. The nation is experiencing a natural gas and oil boom due in no small part to hydraulic fracturing,...
When Hong Kong pro-democracy protests stalled a US-China deal last year, they showed how sensitive trade is to domestic political unrest. Few observers noticed, however, that Chilean demonstrations forced the cancelation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation...
"The red coats we know, but who are those little black devils?” This was the question posed by a Métis prisoner after the Battle of Fish Creek. Thus was born the nickname of the military unit that would later be known as the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, one that had been...
Depending on the part of the world you’re in, the mention of economist, Mark Carney, will elicit different responses. In Canada, Carney is widely credited with steering the country through the rocky waters of the 2008 financial crisis, but in the United Kingdom he is...
Eucalyptus forests are particularly inflammable and this year’s Australian bush fires have, so far, ravaged close to 20 million hectares, about 2½ per cent of the continent, claiming 29 lives. The proximity of the fires to Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra left them...
On a winter river bank, a scorpion approaches a frog. “Mr. Frog, would you carry me across the river?” “Do you think I am crazy, Mr. Scorpion? You could sting me and kill me.” “But why would I sting you, when I would drown as a result?” “Hmmm. Maybe.” “Be reasonable,...
“Give me liberty or give me death” was a battle cry that many people will remember hearing, but few will recall the statesman who said it. Even fewer will know what it meant. These seven words concluded a speech given by Patrick Henry on March 23, 1775; a speech that...