Writing in the Globe and Mail, MLI Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley explains that while Canada is blessed with resource wealth, that alone is not what makes it such a wealthy country. Many jurisdictions that have abundant natural resources are poor or troubled,...
Brian Lee Crowley
Trip-Sharing is Giving Cabs a Rough Ride
Canada’s taxi industry enriches a tiny minority, exploits drivers and provides expensive and spotty services for many people highly dependent on cabs, such as women and the poor. It increases the rate of car ownership, as people who might otherwise rely on cabs find poor availability and high fares work against them. Finally, it prevents us getting full value from the millions of privately owned cars on the road. Fortunately, help is on the way.
EI for Seasonal Workers is a Corrosive Economic Policy
There is no justification, in logic or in economics, for seasonal EI, and the dogged pursuit of this policy flies in the face of the interests of Canada and people who become trapped in the cycle of working seasonally and then receiving EI benefits while unemployed. Some day a politician will have the guts to say so, but apparently not today.
How to Waste Tax Money: Buy Canadian
The way we buy equipment for our military is badly broken. Ottawa’s latest report on how to fix it proposes making it even worse.
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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...
Canadians Vote With Their Feet: Subsidizing poorly performing parts of the country can’t substitute for the policy choices that foster prosperity, writes Brian Lee Crowley
No man is an island. What is true of individuals is doubly true of societies. When even in authoritarian societies such as Iran and China, YouTube videos from Tunisia, Britain or Argentina can be viewed the instant they are posted, even the humble and the oppressed know what life is like elsewhere.
Brian Lee Crowley, Founding President of AIMS, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
Frontier Conversation with the author of Fearful Symmetry – the Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values and what the future holds for Canada’s labour market.
Exiting the Transfer Payment Game
One idea that has received a great deal of currency in recent years is that of transferring to the provinces the sales tax field and allowing them to collect the GST and set the rate within their borders in exchange for an end to Ottawa’s transfers in many areas of social policy.
How Immigration Could Save America
Suppose that one million new immigrants responded to this opportunity. Unlike most foreign investors, these are people who would be making the ultimate commitment to America, choosing to live there and ultimately becoming citizens. These one million new investors would put $200-billion into the housing market immediately, soaking up excess supply without drawing on the strained balance sheets of financial institutions.
Think tanks make a valuable contribution
Another rebuttal to the argument that independent think tanks receive government subsidies.
The Flypaper Effect
This paper jointly published by Halifax’s Atlantic Institute for Market Studies and the Frontier Centre demonstrates that equalization subsidies simply inflate the size of the recipient province’s public sectors, more government personnel with higher salaries, at the cost of more effective public services.
Do We Over-Equalize?
Making the case for a needs-based approach to equalization to prevent over subsidizing recipient provinces in the goal of providing “reasonable” levels of public services.
Nothing for the Money
On Thursday, May 11th, AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley spoke to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto. His topic – equalization. His message – both Ontario and the Maritimes suffer from decades of federal equalization transfers.
The Meaning of Ralph
If Ralph Klein were a tradable commodity, you might notice something peculiar about it. When the price of oil was low, the price of Ralph would be high. But the reverse would also be true; when oil prices soared, the demand for Ralph would fall. What explains this...