The provincial election is the perfect opportunity to lay down the gauntlet against the green extremists’ unjustified war on natural gas furnaces and stoves that is slowly creeping up on us. The City of Nanaimo - yet another British Columbia municipality – just passed...
Municipal Government
Cox: Downtown Rethink
This article entitled People in Toronto won't stop working from home and it's impacting the city paints a relatively negative picture about downtown prospects - noting that Toronto office vacancy rates have just hit their highest level since 1995. Looks like the...
The 15 Minute City: An Idiotic Dream
One of the arguments against single-family zoning is that separating housing from other uses forces people to drive to shops, work, and other destinations. Urban planners want to redesign cities so that people can walk to most of those destinations. They even have a...
Downtown Calgary: At Risk?
Downtown Calgary is a big deal (see photo below and photos following the text). Traditional American and Canadian downtown areas (central business districts or CBDs) are a holdover from the pre-auto era. Their geographical limits were largely set by the early Great...
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...
Municipal Governments should do Less and Spend Less
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...
Day 15 – Frontier’s Advent Calendar
Day 15 - Advent is the season of preparing for Christmas. Here at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy we want to tell you about some of the things we would like to see under our tree. On Day 15 we wish that Alberta would deposit 30% of resource revenue into...
Provinces Can Learn About Debt from their Municipalities
As a parent, I have been able to learn from my children. I’ve learned restraint. I’ve found that children are different, and that they still come back to me after they have left the house for guidance and advice. That surprised me, but learning is learning. Maybe it’s...
Administrative Firewall Key to Better Local Government
We are indeed fortunate to live in a free and open democratic society, where we can go to the polls, cast our ballots, and all the votes count to elect people that represent our interests even if they are competing interests. Citizens rely on their local governments...
Separation and Better Government: Adopting an Administrative Firewall
REGINA, SK - The Frontier Centre for Public Policy just released a new paper Separation and Better Government: Adopting an Administrative Firewall on October 1, 2017. This paper examines the centralized and decentralized models of local government in Canada,...
Inter-Municipal Co-operation and Reform: Municipal Amalgamations
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has just released Inter-municipal co-operation and reform: Municipal Amalgamations. This paper is co-authored by Wendell Cox and Ailin He. Wendell Cox is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the principal...
Frontier In The Media – Good and bad news from Alberta: we can fix our broken governments
Originally appeared in the National Post. If you’re really worried about the performance of governments across Canada, and beyond, I have some good news and some bad news. We know what we have to do to fix it. I’ve just attended a “Restoring the Alberta Advantage”...
3 Million Manitobans and an Ever-Stronger Economy
It’s 2036 and Manitoba’s population just passed three million. The economy is booming. Imagine for a moment the events needed to bring Manitoba to such a result. In 2018, let’s suppose, Manitoba finally confronted its slow-growth, deficit-ridden crisis by abandoning...
Restrictive Land-Use Regulation: Strategies, Effects and Solutions
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has today released "Restrictive Land-Use Regulation: Strategies, Effects and Solutions," a new report by Wendell Cox, a senior fellow with the Frontier Centre. The report evaluates currently in-vogue housing regulation strategies...