The era of low interest rates and inflation has ended, and now both are mushrooming higher. Canadian year-over-year inflation was 7.7 per cent in May, the highest in nearly 40 years but this author predicts it will go still higher. It’s a worthy time for governments...
Brian Pallister likely knows that his time as Premier of Manitoba, now still leading a solid majority government, is coming to an end. Fortunately for Pallister, his party and Manitoba, if he retires soon, by bringing in a new PC leader he could be remembered for...
Sometimes inspiring action is about presenting a vision of what things could be like in the future with a little vision. It's 2036 and Manitoba's population just passed 3 million and its economy is booming so how did it get there?
"Is Recycling working out for Winnipeg and other cities? In 2017 the City of Winnipeg turned down a proposal from its lowest bidder on providing waste and recycling services and went with a more expensive option, why would they do that you might ask? That is a great...
Free citizens have minds of their own and want to pursue their lives as they see fit. This is inconvenient for the elites, who wish to be in charge of everyone’s lives so that they can show their superiority and gain benefit for themselves and their friends. So the...
Demographia International Housing Affordability rates middle-income housing affordability in 94 major housing markets in eight nations: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. This edition covers the third...
Publius read with interest former Manitoba Hydro’s former Chief Financial Officer’s claim that the Utility is in “the strongest financial position in its history” – Manitoba Hydro finances on firm footing (Winnipeg Free Press, November 25, 2013). Mr. Warden...
This year’s federal budget included a 1.6 percent salary increase for MPs. Backbench MPs will now make $160,200, with salaries for cabinet ministers and party leaders topping out at $320,000 for the Prime Minister. As always, this pay increase sparked populist...
Conservative activists often take issue with what they consider excessive pay and perks for politicians. Social democratic activists get riled up over the large salaries commanded by CEOs. Both often do so on an emotional rather than a logical basis. A myopic focus on...
The Frontier Centre has released a backgrounder today entitled CEO Compensation, Politicians’ Salaries, and NHL Players. The author of the paper is Steve Lafleur, a policy analyst with the Frontier Centre. The backgrounder examines the relationship between...
Manitoba’s Ombudsman is celebrating national Right to Know week (September 23 to 28), asserting our individual and democratic right to access government-held information and promoting open, accessible and transparent government. The Ombudsman notes that access to...
Following closely on the heels of a media report of the dangerous driving behaviour of many motorists in school zones, the Minister Responsible for MPI, Andrew Swan, rushed out today with an announcement that MPI premiums are to pay...
August 31st marks the tenth anniversary of the ‘privatization’ of Ontario’s drivers license testing centers. In 2003, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives voted to contract licensing services out to Britain’s Serco Group, which it would be responsible for presiding...
“Bad news all at once; good news over time.” That was the advice Niccolo Machivalli had for the eponymous Prince in his most famous work. This maxim has clearly not been lost on Manitoba's provincial government. Their recent decision to circumvent the requirement for...
This year, the borough decided to take the crumbling sidewalks into its own hands. On Wednesday, it declared it would be the first in the city to hand over all responsibility for sidewalk repairs to its blue-collar workers as part of a pilot project that could spread to other services. At an estimated $300,000, the expenditure is a drop in the bucket of the borough’s overall $66-million budget.