Raising the minimum wage is a flawed strategy for achieving the critically important social objective of raising people out of poverty
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But good intentions alone aren’t enough to justify government policy. Real-world evidence matters. B.C. Premier John Horgan nonetheless recently announced plans to raise the province’s minimum wage by 34 per cent over…
The battle between Alberta and B.C. over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has broad implications for all Canadians
By Steve Lafleur and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute The governments of Alberta and British Columbia are waging an intense trade dispute over the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which would run between Edmonton and Burnaby. But the implications extend far beyond those two provinces. The details of the feud have been well-documented. After B.C.’s…
'We expect the business to continue to operate in the normal course with no impact on customer experience,' the company says
Calgary-based Shaw Communications Inc. announced on Thursday that 25 per cent of its workforce, or 3,300 employees, have elected to take part in the company's recently-announced voluntary departure program. The program is the first step in the company's multi-year Total Business Transformation initiative, “designed to reinvent its operating model to better meet the changing tastes…
Compares the government's rule change to the reviled Indian Act for imposing ironclad status-quo thinking
Just days before the extended deadline for the Canada Summer Jobs program, David Acco still can’t reconcile what the federal government wants employers to do as part of a new application process. “It’s crazy,” Acco says from Montreal. “I would never tick the box they want me to tick. They should be looking at this…
Employment in Alberta grew by 55,000 jobs last year. ATB Financial says manufacturing led the way with 18,000 new jobs
(Published on January 30, 2018) Some great job growth analysis related to Alberta in 2017 was released on Jan. 8 by ATB Financial's economics and research team. The province's unemployment rate was down to 6.9 per cent at the end of the year, the lowest it has been since late 2015, when the full impact of…
The more productive your workers are, the more lucrative your business will be
When you own a business, it is important to do everything you can to boost employee productivity. The more productive your workers are, the more lucrative your business will be. The following guide provides you with a few ways you can ensure that your business is as productive as possible at all times. Create custom…
The Liberals’ latest decision means summer employment is now a testing ground for ideological adhesion, obedience and purity
It’s tough work to imagine two groups more radically different than the Canadian Council of Christian Charities and the gays rights network LGBTory. So when both join the rising chorus opposing changes to what should be among Ottawa’s most innocuous programs, it’s a signal something significant is going on. The Four Cs, as the council…
The province’s manufacturing sector may find itself even less competitive soon due to developments in the United States
How do you kill 75,000 jobs and turn your valuable location into a disadvantage? If you’re the Ontario government, you: start a transition to renewable energy driven by politicians without any cost-benefit analyses; when people with expertise in the energy and power sectors give advice on technical issues – for example, how much duplicate power…
The soon to-be-announced clean fuel regulations are just the latest example of politicians catering to climate activists
New clean fuel regulations are coming to Canada “in the coming months,” federal Environment Minister Catherine Mc-Kenna announced earlier this month. She says the policy – titled the Clean Fuel Standard – is “a really important piece of our climate plan” and an “economic opportunity” for Canada. The idea behind the plan, which will require…
The next decade will see unprecedented changes in the workforce. Jobs will vanish and new jobs won’t at all resemble those they replace
We need to start preparing for a jobless future, in which only a small number of people use machines to manage all work. Machines are taking over jobs at an accelerating pace. Society is beginning to feel the impact of massive automation. Most troubling? The kinds of jobs that machines will take over: all of them.…
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But good intentions alone aren’t enough to justify government policy. Real-world evidence matters. B.C. Premier John Horgan nonetheless recently announced plans to raise the province’s minimum wage by 34 per cent over…
