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.”
Worth A Look
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.
Hey, Mitt, Voters Aren’t the Obstacle: Understanding where the opposition to change really comes from.
Voters are not the primary obstacle to reform. Forty-five-year-olds don’t rise in revolt because somebody proposes raising the retirement age decades from now. One of the fastest growing federal liabilities is the Social Security disability system. Advocates for the disabled actually criticize the program for not doing more to get recipients back into jobs and off the dole.
Featured News
The Man who Saved the Plains Indians
At the time of Confederation, Canada’s Plains Indians were in a desperate situation. The same European-introduced guns and horses that resulted in a briefly glorious golden age for them had also resulted in constant inter-tribal warfare and the rapid disappearance of...
Renewed Talk of Abolishing the Indian Act
Political attacks on the Indian Act are back in the news, and that is a good thing. However, Canadian politicians, including First Nation politicians, need a credible plan about what to do before we pull out the champagne. Attacking the Indian Act is not a big deal...
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.
A Welfare State or a Start-Up Nation?: After one generation, a one percentage point difference in growth rate becomes a 25% difference in per capita income.
Who you vote for in the next election will largely be determined by how you answer the following question: Should we encourage more productive use of resources or more social welfare?
Earth May be Headed Into a Mini Ice Age Within a Decade
What may be the science story of the century is breaking this evening, as heavyweight US solar physicists announce that the Sun appears to be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity, which could mean that the Earth – far from facing a global warming problem – is...
Go North, Young Man, Go North: Canada is quietly surpassing the U.S. as the land of opportunity
While we have every reason to fear the disorder spilling over from our increasingly lawless neighbor to the south, our well-mannered Canadian neighbors have pulled their act together. We could learn a lot from them.
It’s Getting Harder to Bring Home the Bacon: C. Larry Pope, CEO of the world’s largest pork producer, explains why food prices are rising and why they are likely to stay high for a long time.
Mr. Pope is the chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer by volume. He doesn’t mince words when it comes to rapidly rising food prices. The 56-year-old accountant by training has been in the business for more than three decades, and he warns that the higher costs may be here to stay.
Plans to Export Water, Though Unpopular, Keep Springing Up
Today, as federal politicians fan out across the country to wage an election campaign, there is little appetite to reignite a debate on water exports, as was suggested by former prime minister Jean Chrétien last week. Mr. White, though, maintains it’s only a matter of time before Canada begins trading water.
The Price Is Always Right: The key decision for a government is selling state-owned enterprises, not how to price them..
Everyone knew last month’s privatization of Indonesian airline Garuda had gone badly, but exactly how badly is only now coming into focus.
Toronto’s Backward on Public Housing: Get ’em Out, Not In
Toronto Community Housing Corp. is one of the world’s biggest landlords. As the second-largest provider of social housing in North America, it owns more than 350 apartment buildings and another 800 houses and duplexes. Yet, the demand for subsidized housing is always greater than the supply, and wait times are always long.
Redact All You Want, We’ve Gone Overboard on Equalization
What exactly does the government have to fear from a study of equalization payments? We don’t know. But according to a February report published by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (“Dollars & Sense: A Case for Modernizing Canada’s Transfer Agreements”), the government has much to fear – most importantly the revelation that Canada’s equalization program now distributes billions of dollars a year to provinces that least need the help.