A modern, diverse system that meets the needs of a pluralistic society can deliver education in different ways
The Liberals are making support for public education a litmus test in the federal election campaign. The Liberals aren’t satisfied that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has dropped the promised he made during the Tory leadership race in 2017 to provide tax credits to parents for costs of non-government-provided education. Various Liberals have spoken out. Katie…
Canada’s drug supply is meant to provide for 37 million Canadians, not 370 million Americans. U.S. cross-border shopping could endanger Canadians
By Susan Martinuk Research associate Frontier Centre for Public Policy When U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined a caravan of diabetics for a cross-border shopping trip to buy Canadian insulin, it was a deliberate attempt to publicize his proposed policies to reform health care. He likely had no idea that the media coverage of his…
Ruling delaying the Trans Mountain pipeline once again makes it clear we need legislation to clarify what indigenous consultation means
By Ashley Stedman and Elmira Aliakbari The Fraser Institute In yet another example of the federal government’s failure to get Indigenous consultation right, the Federal Court of Appeal recently ruled that six of 12 legal challenges to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion can proceed. The result? Canada’s energy sector will continue to face transportation constraints,…
Study finds no link between the circumstances in the local economy, student unemployment and the level of subsidies handed out. So is it all political?
Those who argue that the Canadian federation exhibits plenty of fiscal and program biases against Prairie Canadians will see further evidence in a recent study from the Halifax-based Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). The study, Rethinking Student Job Subsidies, authored by David Murrell and Alan Chan, is subtitled The Case for Regional Equity in…
Over the course of a single year, the carbon tax cost each Albertan $286, couples $388 and couples with two children $508
Utopian legislators in the United States often look with rose-tinted glasses upon the Canadian approach to everything, from higher education and medical care to global warming and international affairs. Since Canadians are the ones who live with such policies, they’re more inclined to recognize their mistakes and reverse the course, as exhibited by Alberta’s carbon…
Regional reporting may come to suffer blindness similar to that in some Central Canadian media, to the disadvantage of provinces
The announced federal government subsidy for “trusted” media outlets risks undermining provincial jurisdictions. The federal lathering of a $595-million subsidy on “trusted” media over five years may encourage a regressive democratic step of making more news outlets more dependent on Ottawa, feeding a centralizing spirit. News outlets becoming openly partisan (or more partisan than some…
Public coverage in Quebec is not only more generous, but drug approval is more timely than anywhere else in the country
As the Oct. 21 election looms, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems poised to make pharmacare a central issue of the campaign. In June, the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, led by former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins, tabled a report proposing a single-payer government-run universal drug plan in Canada.…
To pay for this rapid rise in public debt, future generations will face higher taxes
By Jake Fuss and Milagros Palacios The Fraser Institute With seemingly little regard for the consequences, the current federal government has increased spending throughout its mandate with no sign of change any time soon. This spending trend has been a stark departure from promises made during the 2015 election campaign, when the Liberals pledged to…
Despite higher-than-budgeted revenues, there’s been no reduction in the federal deficit in the last four years
By Jason Clemens, Tegan Hill and Milagros Palacios The Fraser Institute The period from the mid-1960s to 1995 was terrible for federal government finances in Canada. The government borrowed every year but one, interest costs consumed ever-greater shares of revenues, the country’s debt ballooned, and we came within a hair of a currency and debt…
Believed to be the perfect political antidote to Trump, the blows to Trudeau's manufactured reputation just keep coming
U.S. President Donald Trump has successfully turned the political narrative toward his general direction since taking office. This includes events he had nothing specifically to do with. When left-wing Democrats like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar make outrageous statements, their defenders often say, “but’s it’s nothing like Trump’s rhetoric.” When celebrities like Bette Midler and…
All four strands of conservatism in Canada – traditionalist, religious, free-market and populist – should logically support a tax
Conservative politicians across Canada have strongly opposed the federal government’s promise to impose a carbon tax since the idea was floated in 2015. It’s easy to see how conservatives would oppose a new tax created by the federal Liberal government. After all, what’s more conservative than opposing a new federal tax? Dig deeper into conservative…
When it comes to prescription drug coverage, our health system has plenty in common with the United States – and that’s not a good thing
FROM OUR ARCHIVES Ed. note: This commentary was originally published Dec. 10, 2016. Most Canadians would agree that those who need potentially life-saving medications should have ready access to them. Yet prescription drug coverage in Canada varies widely depending on where you live, your health status, income and age. It's time for a universal pharmacare program.…
Pierre Trudeau came perilously close to losing it all in 1972 to an unassuming federal Conservative leader. That fate may well await his son
A charismatic leader with most of the bloom off the rose near the end of his first mandate. An ordinary leader, elected from a province with the fraction of the population of a major city. The current Canadian federal election? Yes, but also the contest in 1972 – the first I covered as a young…
Deficit finances put the country in a difficult situation as hints of recession abound. And the Liberal government doesn't seem to care
By Tegan Hill and Milagros Palacios The Fraser Institute The latest economic news foreshadows recession. Canada’s persistent government deficits will only worsen the situation. Recently, the U.S. stock market had its worst day in 2019, plunging 800 points. The bond market is showing weakness with short-term interest rates higher than long-term ones, a situation that…
Stalwart "progressives" such as Jean Chretien, Barack Obama and even Ralph Goodale were also once opposed to gay marriage
How many of you remember what you said and did 10 years ago? How about 15 years? How about 20, 25 – or more? Most people would prefer not to revisit these periods of ancient history. Some were silly. Others were embarrassing. Still others were downright awful. Had iPhones and other handheld devices been readily…
The Liberals are making support for public education a litmus test in the federal election campaign. The Liberals aren’t satisfied that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has dropped the promised he made during the Tory leadership race in 2017 to provide tax credits to parents for costs of non-government-provided education. Various Liberals have spoken out. Katie…
