Michael Zwaagstra discusses the B.C. teachers union strike on CBC's The Current. Should the make up of classes be part of teachers' contract talks?
Media Appearances
Here in Quebec, you’re only as free as you feel
Republished from the West Island Gazette. So, how free do you think you are? To be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty free, as freedom goes, over the last bit of time. My kids are almost out of the basement and in interesting jobs. I can almost stop worrying about them....
Aruna Papp Interview
Reprinted from Dialogue. Interview by Juanita Julliet Singh On March 9, 2013, Aruna Papp established a record. She became the first Adventist Indo-Canadian woman to represent Canada as a delegate to the United Nations Conference on Global...
What’s Wrong With Our Schools And How We Can Fix Them (Podcast)
Originally aired on Stuff for Parents. (stuffforparents.com/podcasts/whats-…ix-them-part-1/) Michael Zwaagstra is a public school teacher, speaker, research associate with Frontier Centre for Public Policy and co-author of the book What’s Wrong With Our Schools and...
Featured News
Canada in 2073—Will There Be One?
“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,...
World Cries out for Canadian LNG, “No Business Case” Feds have Totally Failed Us
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...
High City Density, High Prices: Neglecting roads is no good for ‘smart growth’
You have to admit that whether you agree with him or not, Wendell Cox offers a fresh perspective. It’s long been de rigueur for professional urban planners and left-of-centre middle-class lay-people alike to opine on the benefits of “high density” areas: These concentrations of large groups of people are supposed to be better for the environment, better for the economy and better for society. Residents are said to use cars less, walk more and consume fewer resources. Some even claim they’ll breathe fresher air. But in a commentary released Thursday by the Macdonald-Laurier institute, Mr. Cox – an urban policy authority himself – dares to suggest just the opposite. What “radical densification” has done, he says, is drive down the quality of life for Canadians living in the country’s major cities.
Breaking a Few Eggs
Prince Edward Point has been named a “Globally Important Birding Area” in 1998, and Environment Canada has declared it a wildlife sanctuary. Millions of birds migrate through this tiny area every year, more so than grace even Point Pelee. So it seems rather strange that just a few kilometres down the road the Ontario government has proposed installing the most efficient bird killing machines ever, in the form of a huge wind farm. All to protect the environment.
Ottawa Lauds Gov’t Immigration Changes: Minister mum on numbers
Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the Saskatchewan government did the right thing in limiting the number of extended family members who can be sponsored through the provincial immigrant nominee program.
Students Don’t Know how Good They have it: Western provinces are subsidizing cheap tuition in Quebec while their own students pay twice as much to attend university
What is it about Quebec university students that, from one cohort to the next, they don’t know how good they have it? Nearly 175,000 students are currently boycotting classes, for which they pay only about 10 per cent of the cost, in protest against the Charest government’s intention to increase undergraduate tuition fees for Quebec students by $325 a year over the next five years.
Quebec Students Must Pay Their Share: Even after Premier Charest’s proposed increases, the province’s tuition rates will be the lowest in Canada
With cries of bloquons la hausse, a small army of Quebec students has taken to the streets in recent months to protest tuition increases. Jean Charest’s government has announced it will raise tuition fees in the province by $325 per year for five years, to a total of $3,793 per year in 20162017. The change will take Quebec from having the lowest tuition rate in the country to – still having the lowest tuition rate in the country.
B.C. Residents want Pay Equity between Public, Private Sector: Clark calls idea ‘interesting’; union says jobs are hard to compare
Four out of five British Columbians say government employees should be paid the same amount as people doing the same jobs in the private sector, according to an Angus Reid survey commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Eco Hypothesis Faulty
While reducing energy consumption to conserve natural resources, reduce pollution and save money is a worthwhile activity and something all sensible people support, Earth Hour is not based on these goals.
Just Say ‘No’ to Spending
For those not familiar with the column, Lett argues tax hikes should be considered to address the province’s deficit. If one scrutinizes the Manitoba government’s spending track record in greater detail, however, Lett’s proposition becomes much harder to stomach.
Analyst Touts Charter Schools As Possible Option For First Nations
A unique type of public school, found only in Alberta, is being held up as a model for other First Nations to follow. Joseph Quesnel, an analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, says Saskatchewan’s western neighbor is the only province in the country to currently allow charter schools.