Big Topics & Big Ideas
Public Finance & Fiscal Federalism
Canada’s Lost Decade
In the 1980’s, the world was infatuated with Japan. Its economy was on fire and was projected to overtake the USA as the world’s number one economy by the year 2000. That came to a grinding halt in the 1990’s as the Japanese stock market collapsed and economic...
The Left Loses Badly Down Under
New Zealand’s high-tax, pro-lockdown party is smashed at the polls.
Leaders On The Frontier – Alberta’s Broken Relationship With Ottawa – With Dennis Modry
Big Topics & Big Ideas
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...
Poilievre’s Complicated Tax Issue Made Simple
The new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is correct when he says governments discourage work by taxes and clawbacks. The Marginal Effective Tax Rate (METR) measures what government takes from each new dollar earned in taxes and in clawbacks of income-related...
Peckford: Alberta and Sovereignty
Anyone who thinks of the word Alberta will likely say, oh, yes, that’s an area in the western part of Canada —a Province of Canada. I think that is how it is known now. Constitutionally it is a Province of Canada. There are no other Constitutions of this nature to...
Federal Employment Growth Unsustainable
Why work for yourself when taxpayers can pay you instead? In the past seven years, more Manitobans than ever have chosen the job security and benefits of federal employment, while the self-employed have begun to vanish. Statistics Canada snapshots show the most...
Peckford: Why Our Constitution Will Not Be Amended Anytime Soon
Because the Federal Government and the Provincial Governments of Canada have allowed the Constitution‘s separation of powers outlined in Section 92 of the BNA Act to be blurred —disfigured. Section 92(7) outlines exclusive jurisdiction over health to be provincial....
Lessening Saskatchewan’s Reliance on Commodity Bonanzas
Saskatchewan is the beneficiary of elevated pricing and improved long term prospects for nearly all of the many commodities it produces: grain, oilseeds, oil, gas, potash, uranium, and even gold, copper and forestry products. While this very good news for both its...
Weakness of Euro, Pound, Yen, Loonie Are Ominous Signs
Too much could be read into the recent sagging value of the Euro, British pound, Japan’s yen and Canada’s loonie against America’s dollar. Relative interest rates, trade deficits, and government deficits and trends have major influences. In the longer term, all...
No Lands or Property… Shall Be Liable to Taxation
Section 125 of the Constitution Act, 1867, states: “No Lands or Property belonging to Canada or any Province shall be liable to Taxation.”1 This constitutional protection is at the center of many long standing arguments between the federal government and...
Balancing Elephants: Calculating Saskatchewan’s Return on Investment – Meadow Lake Pulp Mill
People in modern societies generally view unfair lending practices with considerable disdain, in fact, recently there has been intensified efforts in regulatory control to prevent this type of behaviour. For example the government of Saskatchewan has recently...
The Latest Federal Supercluster Screw-up
Governments always want to look like they are implementing good ideas and accomplishing important things. For the Trudeau government, the latest razzle-dazzle is the Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI). Here, the federal government will throw almost a billion...