In the 1960’s Canada’s regions were doing well. A fast forward fifty years shows that most regions have fallen short of the promise of fifty years ago.
Equalization
Glad I got Married
Single men suffer from a higher rate of poverty than women in Canada
Much more than the Parti Quebecois falling apart in Quebec
Crucial infrastructure around the Montreal era is falling apart, and urgent repairs promise a difficult summer for motorists in that city.
A Legacy Project for the New Parliament: An opportunity to restore the federation
The new federal parliament has a golden opportunity in its hands to provide meaningful and badly needed fiscal reform to the country. Such reforms could lead to economic renewal, increase productivity, lessen inter-governmental tensions, and strengthen the federation.
Featured News
The Renewable Part of Hydrogen is the Hype
Once again, the world is staging ClimateFest 26, aka the United Nations Conference of the Parties, where peddlers of alternative energy schemes try to plunge their dippers into the river of climate change funding that flows around the world. This funding is generated...
Small Gestures Speak Louder than Great Deeds
The age-old expression that actions speak louder than words conveys an important insight: character is best judged through action. Anyone can say or promise anything but doing requires ability and skill, discipline and commitment. So, the simplest test of character is...
Centralism Masquerading as Federalism
The long history of moving power to Ottawa and away from the provinces has had some unsalutary effects.
Equalization should be Scrapped
In the debate on how best to reform "equalization" -- the system by which Ottawa transfers cash from the richer provinces to poorer provinces -- nobody is asking the obvious question: Has the time come to scrap it? Yes, the principle of equalization was, unwisely,...
Let’s Compare the ‘Have-Not’ With the ‘Have’
Le Club Chasse et Pêche is a lovely restaurant in Old Montreal where the main courses start at $30 and, one evening this week, it was packed with diners for whom the price was no barrier. The irony of this obvious prosperity is that Quebec is officially a "have-not"...
Don’t Believe all that Talk about a Fiscal Imbalance
Premier Gordon Campbell's trip to Ottawa to chat with Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- and to hit up Ottawa for money -- is a Canadian tradition almost as old as Quebec sugaring-off parties, lacrosse and the fur trade. Before 1867, the colonies (later the provinces)...
Lunch on the Frontier – Transfer Payments – With Bryan Schwartz
Watch Lunch on the Frontier with Bryan Schwartz here. (38 minutes)
‘For God’s Sake, Please Just Stop Aid’
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted at a summit in 2000, are extremely ambitious, especially for least developed countries. They include halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty (i.e., on less than a dollar a day) between...
Pay Provinces Debt Seize the Credit Cards
OTTAWA -- Canada has pressed rich countries to forgive the debts of poor countries. Or, at the least, to make the monthly payments for them. (Former finance minister Ralph Goodale proposed last year "a permanent debt relief solution" for poor countries -- a program...
Centralization: Canada’s Cure – or Problem?
Canadians do have a choice, but it is not between a strong federation and a decentralized confederation, it is between decentralization and separation.
Fair Equalization Payments? Not in Canada
OTTAWA -- In 2004, Canadians smoked an average of 1,207 cigarettes each. Quebeckers smoked an average of 1,434 cigarettes -- 227 more. This disparity cost Quebec almost $190-million in lost federal equalization payments. It wasn't a penalty for smoking too many...