Recent revelations about the Ontario government’s relationship with the Beer Store have led to renewed interest in reforming Ontario’s byzantine liquor regulations. Many of the policy implications have been discussed ad nauseum, but one remains curiously absent from...
Regulation
All Sex Workers Can’t Be Lumped Into One Category
Discussions about Canada’s new prostitution laws rarely involve defining who is meant by the term “sex workers.” There are sex workers who want to work in the trade, those who work in the trade out of desperation, and victims of human trafficking. In order to have a...
It Shouldn’t Be Up to Industries to Decide If They Are Exclusive
As of last year, people in Ontario who wish to cut hair for a living must be a member of the Ontario College of Trades, which has mandated a 600 percent increase in certification fees for hairstylists. The newly formed Ontario Hairstylists Association claims that the...
Provinces and Cities Will Play a Greater Role in Prostitution Law
Canada’s old laws on prostitution were struck down by the Supreme Court last year because they forced sex workers into vulnerable and dangerous situations. Some commentators say that Harper government's new law might do the same thing, and end up back in the courts....
Featured News
Timeless Wisdom – The Politics of Successful Structural Reform
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...
Canada’s National Hysteria in the 21st Century
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...
Wasting Money?
BC Coalition call for legalization of Pot.
War on Drugs – Time for a Cease Fire?
My request to the federal government is to get tough on crime by starving criminal organizations of money.
Law and Order in California
Are we certain that we want to put people in jail for growing 5 pot plants?
Another strike against the war on drugs
The Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report today damning the “futile” war on drugs. They urge governments to decriminalize various street drugs in order to curb crime and protect the health of citizens.
NDP Modernizing Liquor in Manitoba
Surprisingly, it seems almost revolutionary to learn that Manitoba’s NDP government is preparing to liberate the provincial liquor retailing landscape according to the Winnipeg Sun.
Florida’s Interior Design Regulations (yes, really).
Interior decorating regulations show the U.S. is not THAT free.
Raise a Glass to Cheaper Booze in Saskatchewan
Liquor privatization in Alberta has been a clumsy failure that has resulted in higher prices, according to a University of Saskatchewan business prof, who has price data to back up his claim.
Voluntary Collective Action
CFIB shows that its possible to solve collective action problems through persuasion rather than force.
A Blight Grows in Brooklyn
“The issue is a form of government theft that the Supreme Court encouraged with its worst decision of the last decade — one that probably will be radically revised in this one.”