This paper analyzes the fiscal condition of the four small, comparatively low-income Canadian provinces that rely on equalization payments as a source of revenue: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Specifically, we examine recent trends in...
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Equalization payments do nobody any favours
Source: Barry Cooper, The Calgary Herald, 12 Nov 2013 Legislation governing Canada’s equalization program, which supports most intergovernmental transfers, is scheduled to expire next March. Bureaucrats have been negotiating over new terms for at least a year. In...
The Environmental State of Canada: 2013 Update
Executive Summary Canadians view the protection and preservation of the natural environment as one of the most important functions of their governments. This paper provides an overview of the major developments in Canada’s environmental performance over the past...
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Canadian Property Rights Index 2023
A Snapshot of Property Rights Protection in Canada After 10 years
Alberta Politics and Empty Promises of Health-care Solutions
The writ has been dropped and Albertans are off to the polls on May 29. That leaves just four weeks for political leaders and voters to sort out what is arguably the most divisive, yet significant, issue for this election - health care. On Day 2, NDP leader Rachel...
To Improve Our Universities, Let the Best Teachers Teach More Courses
Just as it makes sense to let the best researchers spend their time researching, it makes sense to encourage the best teachers to spend their time teaching.
Biofuel Subsidies and the Law of Unintended Consequences
The environmental benefits of biofuel subsidies are dubious, and these subsidies have the disastrous unintended consequence of making it harder for the poorest people in the world to feed their families.
Real Spending Cuts May Be Needed To Balance The Federal Budget
The problem with this approach is that it is inadequate to meet the serious fiscal challenges we face as a country and, as this week’s new economic forecast illustrates may result in economically damaging increases to the deficit if revenue growth turns out to be slower than expected.
Understanding Equalization
Last week, the Globe and Mail ran an article authored by John Ibbitson which profiled David MacKinnon, a Frontier Centre senior fellow and one of the country's leading critics of Canada's equalization program. David's work over the past several years has helped show...
Removing Barriers To Professional Practice for New Canadians
Ben Eisen discusses the need for Canada to adopt policy reforms to remove unnecessary barriers to professional practice that prevent many immigrants from working in the jobs they are trained to do.
Bad Lunches For All: Egalitaranism Run Amok
A particularly talented lunch lady at a Swedish school has been ordered to stop doing such an excellent job because it is “unfair” to students at other schools who do not get to eat such good food.
Sun Series On Canadian Healthcare Shows the Need for Policy Reform
Gunter rightly argues that Canada should look to other models around the world, such as that found in the Netherlands, to find policy models that ensure universal access while avoiding the lengthy wait times for care that exist far too often in Canada.
Alberta and Ontario Must Work Together To Fix Fiscal Federalism in Canada
The result has been that, in some important respects, governments of the traditional “have-not” provinces have been able to provide public services that are more expansive and accessible than what is available to residents of Alberta, BC and Ontario.
Quebec Student Group Will Now Push for Zero Tuition
This development was recently predicted by Frontier’s Peter McCaffrey, who wrote in the SUN chain of newspapers (and elsewhere) that Quebec student groups would be likely to move the goalposts further if the modest planned tuition rises were cancelled.