Alarm bells ought to be ringing in Canada. Business, industrial and foreign direct investment have performed pitifully over the past decade, with no reason to believe there will be a turnaround any time soon. As noted by Steven Globerman of Western Washington...
Year: 2021
Find Backbone and Raise the Flag
Manitobans may have noticed that flags at federal institutions in the province are still flying at half mast. This has been the case since May with the discovery of roughly 200 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia....
How Our Illiberal Universities Betray Liberal Democracy
The quest for knowledge at our universities has ended because knowledge is “settled”: science, philosophy, sociology, ethics, and politics are all settled. The time for questions is over; now is the time for action, for activism, for transforming society and culture....
Bill 64 is Dead, but Reform still Required
BILL 64 is dead. There is little doubt that many Manitobans were delighted when interim Premier Kelvin Goertzen tolled its death knell. Instead of dancing around the bill’s funeral pyre, government members need to seriously review the Manness/MacKinnon commission...
Featured News
What Must Be Done to Curb Canada’s Household Debt
Canada is struggling economically. From inflation and deficits to investment and employment, everything that should be up is down, and everything that should be down is up. One striking symptom of economic rot is household debt, which is rising faster than incomes....
Crown Utilities’ Unfair Advantages Reduce Competition, Innovation
Largely unique among state-owned enterprises, ‘SEOs’, worldwide, Canadian Crown corporations have two key advantages over current and future private sector competitors: non-taxable status and access to low-cost public sector borrowing rates. Other implicit edges...
COVIDiots
Reaction to the major anti-lockdown rally on April 25 at The Forks has been swift and furious. Photos taken without permission by reporters have resulted in the public shaming, and even firing, of people who attended. Strident calls come for action against attendees...
International Fight over Enbridge’s Line 5 to Sarnia Points to Regulatory Dysfunction in U.S., Canada
Michigan’s governor has launched the latest political hit job on a Canadian or international pipeline. Gretchen Whitmer is targeting Enbridge’s Line 5, which runs from Alberta through the Great Lakes region to refineries and chemical plants in Sarnia, Ontario. The...
Ottawa Should Not Leave First Nations to Their Own Devices
Sometimes, self-determination for Indigenous communities can become problematic in meeting certain standards or policy goals, especially if it is done with a hands-off approach from the federal government. This can be the case when it comes to ensuring all First...
Historical Parallels: Is Canada Becoming a Totalitarian State?
This essay spells out what many people have alluded to: that Canadians are losing their freedoms and that this once prosperous and proud country is on the brink of becoming a statist mock-democracy where people live in fear of their government and of fellow citizens...
David Redman: Briefing Note to Premiers on Ending Lockdowns
While the vaccines appear at this time to be saving many of our seniors, the current lock- down-based response to COVID-19 in the Province continues to leave some seniors at risk, while causing severe collateral damage to our citizens’ mental health, our societal...
How Canada is Botching Cryptocurrency Mainstreaming
The Canadian crypto industry knew mainstream adoption would inevitably come with a regulatory load, especially after the 2019 collapse of the largest exchange at the time, QuadrigaCX. Participants, however, did not expect regulators to come with one of the most...
The Modest Recharge: Transformative Post-COVID Economic Recovery for Canada
Canadians want change. It has been more than a generation since we have felt the overreaching power of government as in the past year. Daily freedoms have been curtailed, millions of livelihoods impaired, savings drained and countless fines and arrests created for new...
The Arctic Maritime Routes: Future Trade Opportunities for Canada?
The six-day blockage of the Suez Canal has highlighted the vulnerability of trade routes. Some critical geographic points like the canals are strategic and can threaten the world maritime trade if blocked. Around 80 per cent of the volume of international trade in...
India: A Socially Failed State
The pandemic may be the most important event of our lifetimes. The pandemic will define the legitimacy of governments and leave-long lasting impressions of how societies responded on behalf of their citizens. The tragedy being played out across India is beyond...