President Obama has kicked off a three-day bus tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, where the corn is high and at least some factories are spewing smoke. He’s holding town-hall meetings on the economy, putting the unemployed back to work and “growing wages for everyone.” He won these Midwestern states handily in 2008, but he’s not taking anything for granted these days. The Midwest is the region with the largest number of target states.
Worth A Look
The $25,000 Cow: That’s the average value of a milk quota per cow under a supply-management system
If it were proposed today to tax food—even at five per cent, never mind such punitive rates as these—it would be instant political suicide: consider the ruckus that erupts whenever some stray academic suggests the GST should apply to groceries. But because it is the status quo, and because the tax is implicit rather than explicit, and because “it’s to help farmers,” the policy is not only tolerated, it is impossible to remove. Or at least, it has been until now.
Paying For Unused Advice: When science doesn’t support political decisions on public safety, the politicians simply ignore it, writes Dan Gardner
Oh, politicians say their decisions are informed by science but that’s a fairy tale they tell sleepy children and reporters. In reality, politicians cite science when it supports decisions they want to make anyway, for other reasons, whether ideological or political. When science does not support their decisions, they ignore it.
Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Canada: Do People Still Care?
The Harper government’s quiet confirmation last week that it will not support an extension of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 barely caused a ripple in Canada.
Featured News
Promote Equity by Providing a Quality Education
Earlier this year, a group called Equity Matters asked the province to establish an education equity secretariat. They want this office to oversee equity officers working in Manitoba schools. Equity Matters wants to ensure that all Manitoba students are reflected in...
Why Frances Widdowson Matters
Frances Widdowson probably isn't someone most Canadians recognize. I'm here to tell you why they should. In terms of Canada's intellectual culture, Frances Widdowson matters because she is a classic and prolific academic. In a time when demagoguery easily flourishes,...
It’s Always About Ann, Isn’t It?: Ann Coulter promotes Ann Coulter, but that doesn’t excuse trempling free expression
No one has perfect knowledge, which is why trying to shut down Ann Coulter is a mistake.
Verging on Occult: Earth Hour fails at fighting climate change, so what is it about?
It’s time to ask why Earth Hour is so popular given that it is so ineffective at raising climate change concern.
How Equalization Hammers Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia: Have provinces suffer because of transfer programs
Equalization is a disaster for Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia as it funds richer services in have-not provinces compared to “have” provinces.
Health Insurance: Clear Diagnosis, Uncertain Remedy: Governments are increasingly turning to private insurance in order to widen access to health care and make it more efficient. Are they expecting too much?
“Governments want to spur private insurance in the hope of solving three big problems bedevilling their national systems of health care: inadequate access to care; soaring costs; and a paucity of innovation. They hope thus to improve their citizens’ health without tearing more holes in tattered public finances.”
Labor in Denial as ETS Fairyland Fractures: The Rudd government stares down the gun barrel of one of the greatest policy and political retreats of the past generation that confounds its election strategy and its policy credibility.
“Hale says the US confronts a dual crisis of economics and governance with climate change relegated to a minority issue. “America seems crippled by the fiscal crisis,” he says.”
Align Public Sector Incentives With the Private Sector: How to make government work long-term
If Canadian governments wish to rein in spending and avoid long-term liabilities, put public sector pensions on a track to matching contributions, not defined benefits, says Mark Milke.
Zero Budget Growth
“Over the past hundred years, government has grown to gigantic proportions. It intervenes in almost every aspect of our lives.”
The Gluttony of Governments
“One of the worst by-products — among many — of the rapid expansion of government in the past 50 years has been the politicization of everything, including aspects of personal daily life that government has no business in.”
Winds Of Change
“In a signing ceremony Thursday for a $7-billion deal with Samsung to build wind and solar facilities, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said: ‘This means Ontario is officially the place to be for green energy manufacturing in North America.'”