Troy Media

Building a river to the southern U.S.

- Daniel Klymchuk, Research Associate, Frontier Centre for Public Policy Infrastructure renewal is a critical component of U.S. President Barack Obama's strategy to repair the broken American economy. Economists and virtually every politician will debate the efficacy of the plan; however it is evident that the largest public works program since Franklin D. Roosevelt will shortly explode across the United States.

Obama COOLing protectionist rhetoric?

- Sylvain Charlebois, Associate Dean, Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business, University of Regina With its "Buy-American" requirement for spending on domestically manufactured products, the United States recently threatened to encourage a return to one of the worst eras of economic history, but there are signs that more responsible policies will prevail.

Mr. Obama goes to Ottawa

Preston Manning, President and CEO, Manning Centre for Building Democracy When President Barack Obama comes to Ottawa, one of the concerns he'll be expected to address is the perceived threat of American protectionism.

Canadian prudence trumps Obama charisma every time

Gwyn Morgan, Director, Manning Centre for Building Democracy Barack Obama's inauguration provided a much-needed emotional lift for Americans and for millions of other people around the world. The charismatic young President's "yes we can" message has also inspired Obamania in Canada, a phenomenon not seen here since the emergence of Trudeaumania in the late 1960s.

Poverty measures need measuring

David Seymour, Senior Policy Analyst, Frontier Centre for Public Policy As German philosopher Immanuel Kant pointed out, a man whose fishing net has two-inch holes will likely conclude all fish are more than two inches wide. The discipline of measuring poverty is one where models and approximations have been passed off as reality for too long.

Dalton McGuinty’s “green” illusions on jobs

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has run afoul of two fallacies which plague governments with his new “Green Energy Act.”

Simple amendment needed to protect free speech in Alberta

It is time to amend Section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, which prohibits writing or saying anything that is “likely to expose” a person to “hatred or contempt.”

The extraordinary madness of the stimulus crowd

Mark Milke, Research Director, Frontier Centre for Public Policy In 1841, in his book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay wrote of how every age has its own peculiar folly - “some scheme, project of fantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation.”

Beware the pain-for-no-gain economic scenario

Gwyn Morgan, Director, Manning Centre for Building Democracy It's only been six months since Japan hosted the G8 leaders' summit in Hokkaido Toyako, but the issues discussed then stand in sharp contrast to those of today. Topping the Hokkaido agenda was the economic impact of skyrocketing oil prices and the resulting transfer of economic power from the West to East, along with the dangerous supply dependency on countries such as bellicose Iran, Hugo Chavez-led Venezuela and geopolitically ambitious Russia. Food prices were escalating at the time and the devastating prospect of food shortages loomed for the world's poorest people. On another front, enormous U.S. fiscal and trade deficits were battering confidence in the world's benchmark currency.

End equalization squabbling: Toss the GST to the provinces

By Mark Milke Director of Research Frontier Centre for Public Policy If Quebec premier Jean Charest's recent outburst is any indication - he called Prime Minister Stephen Harper a liar over Ottawa's plan to restrict the rise in equalization payments to economic growth - no amount of federal largesse dropped into the lap of provincial treasuries is ever enough.

Anti-fed paranoia over securities proposal out of step with the times

By Doug Firby Alberta Columnist Troy Media Corporation Though they are both western provinces – and therefore naturally suspicious of Ottawa - left-leaning Manitoba and the right-flankingAlberta are rarely seen to be in alignment over major policy issues.

Business tax: Going for Gold not personal best

CALGARY – A new report from the Canada West Foundation recommends cutting business taxes and harmonizing provincial sales taxes with the GST, improving western Canada's ability to compete

The moral case against dumb government intervention

- Mark Milke, Director of Research, Frontier Centre for Public Policy On a recent trip to Casablanca to visit relatives, I waited in my brother's car one morning while he dashed into the bank. It was then I noticed a young woman with a small child on the street, begging. It's not an uncommon sight in Morocco, or in Canada, but unlike Canada, where it's often able-bodied young males with their full wits, those seeking a handout in Morocco were either elderly women or young mothers who quite properly trigger sympathy.

Fixing Canada’s political mess

Preston Manning, President and CEO, Manning Centre for Building Democracy The situation is now well known. Partisan overkill by the government (attempting to kill the public subsidy to political parties) leads to partisan overreaction by the opposition (the creation of a coalition to bring down the government). The coalition must justify its partisan reaction on other grounds so it claims to have formed because the government has “no plan” to address the deteriorating economy.

Put more money into Canadians’ pockets

Dr. Roger Gibbins, President and CEO, Canada West Foundation It is rare for Canadians to approach the beginning of a new year with such a pervasive sense of anxiety, even foreboding, but it's hard to be festive when surrounded by bad economic news on virtually every front.

Prescriptions for an ailing economy

Peter Holle, President, Frontier Centre for Public Policy The current economic slowdown, as challenging as it might be, gives us an opportunity to discuss some much-needed reforms we should be implementing. While change is always difficult, these prescriptions, I believe, will better prepare us to face the future.

Pull the plug on terminally-ill businesses

Gwyn Morgan, Director, Manning Centre for Building Democracy The full-court press by Detroit Three auto lobbyists for taxpayer money has fostered strong feelings across our country. B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell staked out his province's position that massive job losses in the forestry sector merit government help just as much as Ontario's auto sector. Fearing for their own jobs, Canadians employed in the services, retail, construction and other sectors ask why workers who earn much more than they do should be subsidized – and why mismanaging bosses should be bailed out.

Canada at an economic crossroads

It can be infuriating watching the Conservatives govern, whether it is political bluster in Parliament, empty assurances of fulfilling a fiduciary duty to taxpayers while running up federal expenditures, or gimmicky tax proposals that undercut the country's economic potential. One is frequently reminded of the games played by the former Liberal government.

Governments already “stimulate” business

In politics, it helps to have amnesia if one wishes to repeat history’s economic failures but offer them up in the audacious wrapping of something “new.” For example the current financial crisis is often incorrectly blamed on a laissez-faire approach to regulation. But only if one forgets it was the U.S. federal government as far back as the 1970s under President Jimmy Carter which first pressured banks to lend to Americans who were high credit risks, pressure then upped in the 1990s under Bill Clinton, and a practice then defended by too many Democrats and Republicans alike in past eight years.

Getting government out of housing management

Daniel Klymchuk, Research Associate, Frontier Centre for Public Policy Public housing in Canada began as an idealistic tenet of Fabian socialism that much of society could honestly embrace. After all, how could one doubt the caring, gentle hand of government as the entity to build, manage and otherwise care for needy families?