Yesterday I had a very interesting meeting with a couple of staff members from the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region. We covered what each of our organisations do, and shared how we operate and work towards improving the lives of Reginans and Canadians. In particular I...
Regulation
The Ontario government should not try to set insurance rates
In an attempt to garner NDP support for the provincial budget, the governing Liberals have pledged to reduce auto insurance rates by 15 percent. While this makes for excellent retail politics, it doesn’t make any economic sense.
New York Beef Jerky Producer Wins Subsidy From City, Outsources to Pennsylvania
A recent story about Brooklyn based Kings County Jerky provides a wonderful illustration of how subsidy programs can go awry. The artisanal beef jerky producers have made such a name for themselves that they have to expand production. One might expect this to be the...
Canadian Nanny State Squeezes Out Caffeine
A few months ago I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post on the political overreaction to a few deaths in the United States that were connected to energy drink consumption. Despite the fact that only 5 people in the United States have died after consuming energy drinks — due to pre-existing conditions — many politicians have decided that cracking down on caffeine is an appropriate regulatory response.
Featured News
A Year of LNG Royalties/Taxes from a Single Pipeline Could Pay for …
Sitting on top of one of the world’s largest and richest natural resource warehouses is turning into quite a disconcerting distraction. While much of Canada’s population – the heavily urban part for whom “rural” means Whistler, Muskoka, or Mont Tremblant – likes to...
Medical Martial Law – Never Again
The economic upheaval now roiling over the world’s financial markets, rapidly lowering living standards, and even threatening to freeze Europeans this winter, is all directly related to the radical decision most western leaders took in March of 2020., when a new...
A New Approach to Alberta’s Minimum Wage
Author David Pankratz summarizes his findings as follows: “Our comparison makes it abundantly clear that we can best express the sincerity of our intentions to help the poor by expanding the value of their basic exemption from income taxes . . .
In fact, the numbers show that increased exemptions work spectacularly better than minimum wages or tax credits in meeting the goal of improved incomes.”
The Myth Of The Level Playing Field
Frankly, an "in-and-out" scheme sounds quaintly titillating. But a possible in-and-out scheme run by the Conservative party in the last federal election promises to dominate question period and national news coverage for the next week or two, perhaps longer. Elections...
Freedom Means Responsibility
Former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern explores freedom of choice in the Wall Street Journal. Worth-Look.
It’s Liquor, Folks, Not Contraband
In most civilized parts of the world you can buy your groceries and your liquor in the same place.
An Obituary for a Man – and for Times Past
Bryan Southcombe died on 7th March, aged 69, and my wife and I attended his funeral and the après funeral on March 14th. While much of the day focused on personal memories I found myself pondering the way the world had changed during the expansive and remarkable “Life...
The New Zealand Resource Management Act
For many centuries, the Anglo-American tradition has emphasized the fiduciary duty of all those who manage other people’s assets and affairs, such as trustees and directors. This fiduciary duty imposes a higher duty of care on such people, than on the ordinary person....
A Dangerous Obsession
Some people think that there should be an income cap, a maximum amount of money a person can make at a given job. Thomas Sowell weighs in on that subject.
Selling Wheat the Soviet Way
Last week, federal Minister of Agriculture Chuck Strahl suggested momentum was growing among farmers for an end to the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly over Prairie grain sales. Since 1943, all wheat and barley farmers in the three Prairie provinces and northeastern...
Leave Christopher Hitchens Alone
Christopher Hitchens emerges from the CBC building in the 500 block of Winnipeg's Portage Avenue, squints into the bright mid-afternoon sky, spots a break in the traffic and launches himself into the street. He gallops across four momentarily deserted lanes of the...