A month ago, the Chronicle Herald published an article in which I argued that the Atlantic Canada economy is unsustainable and that the region has become a major burden on Canada. The starkest evidence of that is that other Canadians are obliged to contribute $6,400...
“Who has seen the wind?” asked Canadian W. O. Mitchell in his 1947 novel. In Alberta, the answer is just about everyone, as the winds of political discontent blow more fiercely than they have in decades. After several difficult years, Albertans watched the Liberals...
It is time for a fundamental course change by Atlantic Canadians respecting equalization and other regional subsidies. We’ve had a half-century of remarkably large subsidies to Quebec and Atlantic Canada, recently amounting to several thousand dollars per citizen per...
In recent years, equalization and other regional subsidies have captured the attention of many Albertans. Much useful research has been done at the University of Calgary and by the former Wildrose Party. There has been extensive comment in Alberta’s media on Canada’s...
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...
Today, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) released a new paper documenting a recent decline in equalization payments (relative to provincial GDP) to Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward...
This paper analyzes the fiscal condition of the four small, comparatively low-income Canadian provinces that rely on equalization payments as a source of revenue: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Specifically, we examine recent trends in...
Politicians are fond of championing the middle class, but a recent study by Statistics Canada shows that middle income Canadians are doing relatively well compared with those who fall below the poverty line and younger Canadians are falling behind older cohorts....
Canadians benefit from a quality of life that few in human history could even conceive of. Unfortunately, many Canadians at the lower end of the income spectrum haven’t shared in those gains. A recent Statistics Canada report shows that while the middle class is...
Executive Summary Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia taxpayers have faced a long-standing fiscal gap between the federal transfers they receive and the transfers they deserve based on their share of federal revenue. The gap between the winners and losers of...
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy today released policy series paper Fiscal Imbalance in Canada: A Look at the Opportunity Costs of Equalization. The author, Eric Merkley, is a research associate with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. The report highlights...
Canada’s equalization program has been controversial since its adoption in 1957. Equalization is a system of transfer payments designed to address fiscal disparities between provinces with the goal of allowing less-prosperous provinces to provide comparable levels of...
Prince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest province, but people who live there receive three times as much as they contribute in premiums, when they collect Employment Insurance. EI benefits in all of Atlantic Canada greatly outweigh the premiums paid. The difference...
Souris Mayor Dave MacDonald recently told the Premiers’ Council on EI that recent changes to the federal EI program are killing his town. Unfortunately, Mr. MacDonald did not note that Islanders receive three times as much as they contribute to the EI program. This...