Troy Media

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?

Coalition games fuel the fires of western separatism

- Doug Firby, Alberta Columnist, Troy Media Corporation Jean Charest’s moderate right party has held onto power in Quebec.Stéphane Dion has decided to end his personal torment as the much-mocked Liberal prime minister-in-waiting. The coalition of the unwilling is on hold, if not on the rocks – while Liberal king-makers have anointed Moses Ignatieff to lead them out of the wilderness.

Canada’s current healthcare funding model not sustainable

By Rebecca Walberg Director of Health Policy Frontier Centre for Public Policy Since the embrace of New Public Management in the 1980s in the public sectors of Canada, the US, Australia and the UK, the mantra of leaders throughout government has been “more with less.” A generation of government has attempted to reduce public spending, or at least to slow its growth, while providing excellent and increasingly accessible public services. In Canada, healthcare administration is the glaring exception to this trend.

Opportunity for Senate elections still exists

For the past three years the Prime Minister has offered democracy to the Provinces and Territories of Canada through an historic but time limited opportunity. Unfortunately the Provinces were slow to react and failed to recognize that, at some point in time, the offer would expire.

Taxpayers should spurn auto-bailout pleas

- Gwyn Morgan, Director, Manning Centre for Building Democracy Baby boomers here in London must be experiencing déjà vu. Four decades ago, auto giant British Leyland was desperately seeking government funds to stave off bankruptcy and prevent the layoff of thousands of highly paid unionized workers. After burning through today's equivalent of over $16-billion (U.S.) in taxpayers' money, the firm eventually disappeared, relegating iconic cars like the Triumph to collectors' items. Last Tuesday, British auto makers implored Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to give them state aid to help them through "unprecedented circumstances."

Manitoba economy in Sweet Spot

The Canada West Foundation has released its latest economic profile and forecast for Manitoba. Entitled Well-Balanced, the report argues that Manitoba is in a good position to weather the current economic storm and grow faster than the Canadian average. The Canada West Foundation is forecasting that Manitoba’s real GDP growth will be 2.3% for 2008 and 2.0% for 2009.