For standards of living to grow, productivity growth must be strong and continually renewed. That is one notion that nearly all economists can agree on. So, it is not surprising that politicians scramble to discover new or not-so-new ways to boost productivity growth....
A few weeks ago, Albertans voted to reduce the inequities in the federal equalization program. The deficit between the dollars that leave to and come back from Ottawa has recently been as high as $27 billion in one year. During times of crisis, it feels like salt in...
The war against the invisible enemy of COVID-19 has unfortunately made normal rights and freedoms invisible as well. Another example manifested on September 13 when Saskatchewan’s premier renewed emergency orders for his province. The list of powers he claimed were so...
Chipper, patient, and courteous, Canada has pursued an improbable destiny as a splendid nation of relatively good and ably self-governing people, but most would agree we have not realized our true potential. Canada's main chance, according to our guest, is now before...
It’s a well-known pattern in public policy – profligate politicians damaging their economies with out-of-control spending, massive borrowing and higher taxes – inevitably leading to fiscal crisis, sharp declines in growth and ultimately rapidly falling currency value...
Mass hysteria is the spontaneous manifestation of a particular behaviour by many people. There are numerous historical examples: Middle Age nuns at a convent in France spontaneously began to meow like cats; at another convent, nuns began biting one another. In...
China first reported the detection of an unknown strain of virus in Wuhan to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Country Office in China on December 31, 2019, an event that changed the world. Eleven million residents of Wuhan city were placed under an unprecedented...
Excess costs for Kananaskis parks access should be paid from the health budget. As soon as the government locked Albertans down in March 2020, Calgarians headed outdoors in greater numbers than ever. However, soon thereafter the provincial and municipal governments...
This essay spells out what many people have alluded to: that Canadians are losing their freedoms and that this once prosperous and proud country is on the brink of becoming a statist mock-democracy where people live in fear of their government and of fellow citizens...
While the vaccines appear at this time to be saving many of our seniors, the current lock- down-based response to COVID-19 in the Province continues to leave some seniors at risk, while causing severe collateral damage to our citizens’ mental health, our societal...
Vaccination passports are being touted as the answer to getting our travel industry and other businesses up and running again. One would simply produce their “papers” and airline tickets could be purchased, access gained to restaurants, hockey games, etc. Why would...
The massive debt that Canada’s federal government and other governments around the world took on to face the economic and other fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is the elephant in the room. This debt could soon become intolerably hard to service if interest rates...
Our prime minister said he would never reinstate the gun registry, nor would any Canadian government disarm the people. His legislative track record says otherwise. On September 22, 2010, our prime minister, who was then an MP, voted against a private member’s bill to...
Who decided the nearly uniform messages we hear on the pandemic and what to do about it? Our politicians defer to doctors who, in turn, look to the World Health Organization (WHO). When we realize who pays the WHO, the senselessness makes sense. Leave it to the...
Without doubt, Alberta’s premier is in some trouble. A recent opinion survey put the opposition NDP’s leader ahead of the United Conservative Party (UCP), within reach of forming a majority if a vote were held now. The premier’s popularity has eroded during the...