Winnipeg’s police Chief Smyth has the typical police challenge on his hands - the ones seen over and over again: crime is up, resources are stretched, and more money is needed. Behind the scenes and out of the public’s eye, he must also be seen as preserving the...
At any given time, there are about 20 million people on the move in the world. When there’s war, terrorism, extreme weather events, or other disruptions, this can grow to 80 million people trying to get to safety. We hear of illegal immigrants crossing borders and...
The problem of theft from Winnipeg’s liquor stores is steadily growing more serious. It has become well known to thieves that they can steal with impunity from the stores. They know that the staff have been advised not to interfere with a theft in progress under any...
Municipal spending in British Columbia is rising far too fast. According to a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the cost of running the municipal government – even after accounting for price inflation and population growth – rose by an...
In a recent New York Times article, David Wallace Wells asked, “How did No-Mandate Sweden End up with such an average pandemic”. Let’s be clear. This admission from the New York Times, who tried to destroy the response to Covid-19, starting in April 2020 and...
Candida Auris is a fungus that, unlike most fungi, can survive in a human body. It is capable of spreading within the body, resulting in an agonizing death. For unknown reasons the fungus is spreading at a rather alarming rate. So far, cases have been confined to long...
In 2011, Calgary council voted 10-3 to discontinue fluoridation of the city’s water, which had begun 20 years earlier pursuant to a referendum. Now the consequences are becoming visible. A study by Alberta medical researchers shows that the incidence of cavities...
Public transportation is an important contributor to urban mobility, particularly in Canada’s largest metropolitan areas. Despite the fact that most residents view public transportation as a necessity, there is a tendency to think of it as more of a social welfare...
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has completed the eighth edition of its Local Government Performance Index (LGPI). The Transparency Index (TI) ranks the top 100 Canadian cities on the quality of their financial reporting over the 2013 financial year. Since the...
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...
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...
The Wildrose supporters who gathered to choose a new leader Saturday night broke into raucous cheers when they heard that former leader Danielle Smith had been defeated for the Conservative nomination in High River. Ms. Smith had made herself infamous in Wildrose...
Winnipeg has a new mayor for the first time in a decade, and Brian Bowman wants to cut the salaries of councillors. There have also been moves to cut support staff for councillors, but more thought is needed on this one. Councillors in any municipality need to respond...
Now that municipal election season is over in Manitoba and Ontario, city councillors are transitioning into the ordinary business of governing. One of the first tasks will be hiring office staff. Some councillors will be tempted to hire as little staff as possible to...
“Privatization is not inherently good or bad – the performance or effectiveness depends on implementation.” That isn’t the type of rhetoric one might expect to hear when describing something as polarizing as privatization, but it is one of the conclusions from the...