Three concurrent and independent elements are preventing Alberta from deriving the full potential out of its energy resources. It is generally said that good things come in sets of three. The Latin expression "omne trium perfectum" conveys the idea that things that...
The federal government’s effort to transfer power temporarily from the House of Commons to the office of the Finance Minister was an unconstitutional attempt to bypass the will of Canadians as expressed in the 2019 election. By stopping them, the opposition parties...
On January 30th Frontier Centre for Public Policy joined together with more than 145 think tanks, IGOs, NGOs, and civil society organizations around the world to hosted “Why Think Tanks Matter: The Future of Think Tanks and Policy Advice.” Events took place in 85...
As predicted weeks ago, Albertans did not need to hold their breath for Ottawa’s approval of the Frontier oil sands mine. Reports of massive opposition within the Liberal Party caucus and rumours of an appeasing “economic aid” package for the province were strong...
“Ahead, Thar Be Dragons.” The world of 2023 is a scary place. One major war is raging, with others probably on the way. The Pax Americana that has given us freedom of the seas and allowed global trade to flourish might be breaking down. International piracy,...
Today, Canada’s natural gas sector is seeing its decade of darkness due to federal policy. And it’s not because the opportunity wasn’t there. It was because our government allowed its ideology, and that of its anti-oil and gas friends (also known as protestors) to...
Peter Lougheed, Alberta’s 10th premier, has passed away.
Why is it that previous governments did not investigate many cases of citizenship fraud before?
Elizabeth Warren’s public claim that she is 1/32 Cherokee is highly offensive to liberal democratic values. Race, language, culture are not moral attributes for which people should receive honours of any kind. They are accidental features of life for which we are not responsible; they are not active personal achievements.
A new Parti Quebecois government in Quebec has got people asking questions as to what comes next. Naturally, perhaps, the prevailing questions have been about sovereignty.
But the sovereignty issue will not likely dominate the reign of Quebec’s first female premier. First, because Pauline Marois has no majority to make it happen and no ability to push it by coalescing with Quebec Solidaire (the other separatist party, which won 2 seats). Second, the Coalition Avenir Quebec, CAQ (the new arrival that won 19 seats and nipped with their vote share at the statistical heels of the two large parties), ran explicitly on deferring constitutional questions in Quebec for a decade. Third, PM Stephen Harper is not likely going to allow Marois to draw him into constitutional squabbles and derail his government agenda. That means the PQ will find few partners to kick sand at in the constitutional sandbox.
As an Albertan, the question as to what the Quebec-Alberta relation will look like is more pressing in my mind.
I would like to start a contest and receive nominations for the worst public policy idea anyone has heard of this century (I say this century to make it somewhat palatable since the 20th century is so full of bad ideas). In any case, regardless of whether the contest...
Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, like Dalton McGuinty, is fond of blaming Alberta's oil industry for supposedly hurting manufacturing in Central Canada. These numbers StatsCan released today show the opposite: Manufacturing sales increased 1.9% in March to...
Alberta’s Wildrose plan to pay out energy dividends may bring some structure to the provinces random spending, and may result in greater savings for Albertans.
The state has no business in running programs for personal growth
Unlike most Alberta elections since the 1970s, the outcome of this one cannot be announced in advance. This fact alone makes the start of this campaign the most exciting in a generation.