Source: Wendell Cox, NewGeography, 18 November 2013 The restoration of central city living and working environments has been one of the more important developments in the nation’s metropolitan areas over the past two decades. Regrettably, a good story has been...
Worth A Look
The New York Times’ Global Warming Hysteria Ignores 17 Years Of Flat Global Temperatures
The New York Times feverishly reported on August 10 that the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is about to issue another scary climate report. Dismissing the recent 17 years or so of flat global temperatures, the IPCC will assert that: “It is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010.”
Hong Kong’s Simple, Low Taxes: Don’t We All Want It?
“I did a little calculation yesterday,” says Stuart Iliffe, a Canadian working in Hong Kong as chief financial officer of publishing house PPP Co. Ltd. “If I earned $100,000 [all figures Canadian unless noted] in Canada, after tax I would keep $64,000. If I earned $100,000 in Hong Kong, and made use of the married man’s tax allowance, I would keep $90,100.” Those are startling figures – and they don’t even take into account that the former British colony – since 1997 a special administrative region (SAR) of China – has no goods and services tax, harmonized sales tax or value added tax.
It Is Capitalism, Not Democracy, That the Arab World Needs Most: Property rights for aid: this could be the most effective anti-poverty strategy in history
To watch events in Egypt is like seeing a videotape of the Arab Spring being played backwards. The ballot box has been kicked away, the constitution torn up, the military has announced the name of a puppet president – and crowds assemble in Tahrir Square to go wild with joy. The Saudi Arabian monarchy, which was so nervous two years ago, has telegrammed its congratulations to Cairo’s generals. To the delight of autocrats everywhere, Egypt’s brief experiment with democracy seems to have ended in embarrassing failure.
Featured News
Weaponizing the Law
The indictment of former U.S. president Donald Trump for crimes invented by his political opponents is the most egregious example yet seen of the weaponizing of the law. The United States is now full of examples. However, in Canada, we also see the law being...
“Looking At” Seizing Control Over Western Canada’s Natural Resources
OTTAWA, REGINA - Last week, two things happened that could have profound impacts on natural resources development in Saskatchewan. One is a hint the federal government might want to take control of natural resources away from the provinces, and the other is the...
To Solve Native Issues, Focus more on the Indians and Less on the Chiefs
The country’s most famous hunger striker has declined to declare victory and moved the aspirational goal posts after successfully hijacking the Prime Minister’s schedule. Canadians are divided as to whether she is a Northern Ontario Mother Teresa or an incompetent small town administrator on a highly publicized weight loss program.
City politicians focus on utopian visions while citizens just want simple things, like passable roads
It’s the new urban blight. Across the country, city governments are in varying states of disarray, if not chaos. The range is wide, from the badly governed fiasco in Toronto to outright corruption in Montreal and boondoggle-prone governments in Vancouver, Calgary and other Western cities. Taxes are rising, spending is soaring, but roads are crumbling and the basics often ignored.
Man Made Global Warming Disproved
It takes only one experiment to disprove a theory. The climate models are predicting a global disaster, but the empirical evidence disagrees. The theory of catastrophic man-made global warming has been tested from many independent angles.
Average Federal Worker Costs $114,000: Budget watchdog
As the Conservative government lops thousands of jobs off the payroll, the cost of the average federal employee will continue to climb and could hit nearly $130,000 by 2015, says a report by Canada’s budget watchdog.
Northern Dams in Doubt: Province orders study of need for Keeyask, Conawapa
The Selinger government wants the Public Utilities Board rate watchdog to tell it if there’s a better alternative to Manitoba Hydro’s proposed northern Keeyask and Conawapa generating stations.
Canada, U.S. Struggling to Reach Agreement to Agree on Product Rules
An ambitious plan to harmonize product regulations between Canada and the United States has become all process, few results. But there is hope.
Harper’s civil service shuffle an attempt to make ‘Yes, Minister’ actually mean something
Ottawa positively hummed with speculation about a major shuffle in the upper reaches of the public service Monday — a story I suggested on Twitter was important because “these are the people who really run the country.” Not so, responded Ian Brodie, Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff : “I’m pretty sure the guy who moves them is the one who really runs the country.”
Infostructure Is the New Infrastructure: We aren’t going to need 20 lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike, or $100 billion high-speed rail lines, to save us from national gridlock.
Among advocates of big government and Keynesian countercyclical stimulus, one subject keeps coming up: infrastructure. They’re always arguing the short- and long-term benefits of building new highways, bridges, tunnels, urban light-rail systems, or, the Holy Grail itself, a national high-speed rail network.
Quebec, Shale Gas and Pandora’s Box
There were some in Quebec who were thrilled last week when the new Parti Québécois government suggested it would ban the development of the province’s shale gas resources. While this seems to be just another story of a province deciding for or against a development opportunity, a shale gas ban might have larger consequences down the road.