Adam Smith showed in The Wealth of Nations how prosperity arises from making and trading, rather than taking.
Tom Flanagan
Treaty Land Entitlement and Urban Reserves in Saskatchewan
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy today released a study about treaty land entitlement and urban reserves in Saskatchewan. The study was conducted by Dr. Tom Flanagan, Professor Emeritus, University of Calgary, and Mr. Lee Harding, who was a M.A. student in the...
Seven Habits Of Highly Effective First Nations
Tom Flanagan and Lee Harding / November 2016 This paper examines 21 First Nations in Canada who scored highly on the 2011 Community Well-being Index (CWB), which is computed by researchers at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (INAC) after each census. The...
Unite the Right
By-elections can be important for many reasons. Tuesday’s provincial by-election in Calgary-Greenway was significant because of its impact on the rivalry between the Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose Party. It was a close call, but the PCs managed to...
Featured News
There’s Nothing Fair About Canadian Health Care
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
Support for UN declaration on native rights may spell trouble for Canada’s resource sector
The new Liberal government says it will implement the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It’s no surprise, as the Liberals campaigned on it. Nonetheless, there is great potential for mischief here because the sweeping language...
Compensation of First Nations Leaders
Due to passage of the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, systematic data about the compensation of chiefs and councillors are now available. Multiple regression analysis identifies three variables that explain part of the variation in pay: More populous First...
The campaign’s final make-or-break weeks
The endgame of this long election campaign is coming into view. Thomas Mulcair’s attempt to remake the New Democratic party as a moderate-centre party has failed, brought down by what Marxists call “internal contradictions.” His promise to balance...
Harper would have the upper hand in a minority House
Once again, minority government seems like a possible outcome of a federal election, so let’s look at some scenarios. They all involve a double helix of constitutional rules and political calculations. Start with the constitutional parameters. A sitting prime...
Resource Revenue Sharing, Property Rights and Economic Incentives
Dr. Flanagan's report explores the demands of First Nations to sharing of revenue generated by the exploitation of natural resources in Canada. The report finds that, though the demand for general sharing of resource revenue has received some support, it faces both...
The irony of the AFN’s call for an anti-Tory vote
Leaders of the Assembly of First Nations are urging their people to defeat the Conservatives on Oct. 19. Vote Liberal or NDP, is the message, but not Conservative. “We can mitigate the damages by voting for a different government in this upcoming...
Provinces the key to resource revenue sharing with First Nations
Resource-revenue sharing has emerged as the next Big Idea for First Nations. Like most Big Ideas, it seems simple, but in reality is full of legal difficulties and unintended economic consequences. Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations...
How Notley Can Avoid Becoming a One Term Wonder
It was a great night for Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP. The Alberta Liberals collapsed, giving the NDP free run on the left. Having won 53 of 87 seats, the NDP can govern for four years with a comfortable majority. But Ms. Notley should be realistic about her new...
It’s Fear and Loathing Time in Alberta
The Alberta election campaign is entering its final week, when many voters make up their mind whom to support, or whether to vote at all. Things become brutally simple in the endgame as primal emotions come to the fore. Two passions rule Canadian politics, fear and...