The federal Liberal government’s proposed budget includes an innovative plan to improve housing affordability through “shared equity” mortgages. First-time homebuyers could qualify for a 10-per-cent “shared equity” mortgage on Canadian Mortgage and Housing...
Irving Berlin’s Christmas song “White Christmas” is a classic - Bing Crosby’s version remains the best-selling single of all time. And yet, if the logic of a special interest group in Winnipeg is to prevail, the name of the song would have to be changed to something...
In what seems to be a never-ending, always-escalating war against Canada to make Ottawa return The Most Valuable Woman In The World, Meng Wanzhou, CFO and heiress to the mammoth and Sino-idolized Huawei Corporation, Beijing has made yet another dubious charge, that...
The stated objective of Canada’s equalization program is to ensure provincial governments in less-prosperous regions of the country are able to deliver high-quality public services to residents. This is a worthwhile, even noble objective. That the program is motivated...
The price of copper has long been a bellwether for economic conditions. The price is strongly correlated to economic activity, industrial production and economic growth in general. It is also highly correlated with the Canadian dollar and economy. The red metal’s...
Canada’s national policy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 necessitates divesting from fossil fuels. There is just one problem: massive outstanding loans from banks to the oil and gas industries. The oil and gas sector makes up more than 10 per cent of the...
Every year thousands of Alberta students take driver education classes in hopes of passing the all-important written and practical driving test. These classes are taught through a traditional, teacher-centred approach in which driving instructors teach students the...
There’s no doubt some public employees are trying to bring Trump down. But this shouldn’t surprise anyone. We live under the perception — or shall we say illusion — that civil servants are altruistic and loyally serve whichever party is in power, while actors in the...
Most of us tend to be nostalgic about our ancestral past. Researching one’s family tree has become a popular and passionate pastime. We imagine that when our forefathers lived, things were simpler, and in some ways, better than the complicated lives we live now. But...
Narratives are not necessarily built on facts; they’re built on stories, pictures, graphics, and videos. Ideally, we want our narratives to be aligned with the facts; but that doesn’t always happen. Here is a synthesis of some of the predictable narratives being spun...
Mark Kingwell is what is commonly called an intellectual, a social critic. He has an impressive list of advanced degrees and has published books on difficult topics such as baseball, cocktails, and democracy. He is paid by the taxpayers of Ontario to teach philosophy...
There is a longstanding debate among educators about the importance of specific content knowledge in the curriculum. Generally speaking, progressive educators favour a non-content specific learning process while traditional educators say there is a defined body of...
Today the Frontier Centre for Public Policy released a new report by Michael Zwaagstra, a well-known teacher, author, and Frontier Centre Senior Fellow. Content Knowledge is the Key to Learning critiques the fad of 21st Century Learning and makes the case for...
A former judge from Manitoba who compared rights of status Indians to a gravy train in an opinion column for a Thunder Bay newspaper earlier this month says it was meant to be taken as satire. And Brian Giesbrecht is surprised no one saw it that way. “It was satire...
Successful private companies benefit from having effective boards of directors. They protect the interests of shareholders - the company’s owners - by hiring and supervising top management, establishing performance standards, and setting management pay. Boards also...