Mar 23 2019 — Lydia Miljan — Fraser Institute — Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel recently announced that the Legault government is moving forward with electoral reform. Yet unlike other provincial governments, rather than proceed with a referendum, the CAQ government will table a bill to move Quebec to a mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system before October 1. LeBel claims that the bill “will […]
Mar 15 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — Will the Trudeau government, reeling from the SNC-Lavalin affair, be able to change the political channel with a new national Pharmacare plan in the March 19 budget? A new drug policy, whatever its shape, will affect the lives of Canadians more profoundly and for much longer than the SNC affair. But will the media pay […]
Mar 15 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — The global economy is clearly slowing down, leading organizations such as the IMF and the OECD to recently downgrade forecast growth for 2019. Italy has already returned to recession, its third in the past decade. The UK is not far behind as an agreement on Brexit flounders. Real GDP in Germany has fallen over the […]
Mar 8 2019 — Sylvia Bashevkin — Policy Options — Annual events provide a useful opportunity to question the routines we grow accustomed to throughout the year. My suggestion for International Women’s Day (IWD) 2019 is to reconsider a pattern so deeply engrained in our repertoires that we hardly give it much thought. I propose that we abandon the practice of ignoring or demeaning the […]
Mar 7 2019 — Vincent Geloso — Fraser Institute — When economists speak about climate change risk, they use a lens of externalities. Simply put, externalities emerge when exchanges between two parties has consequences that spill over onto third parties. These externalities are labelled “negative” when these spillovers hurt third parties. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from economic activity constitute a negative externality, as producers and […]
Mar 7 2019 — Policy Options — In the days after Jody Wilson-Raybould’s resignation from federal cabinet, reports suggested she was difficult, not a team player, and even “mean.” Supporters denounced this framing and pointed to its gendered and racialized undertones, a criticism with which the prime minister eventually agreed. Even so, media coverage came complete with editorial cartoons depicting Wilson-Raybould bound, […]
Mar 4 2019 — Policy Options — Parliament in the United Kingdom has passed legislation allowing MPs caring for new babies to nominate a colleague to vote on their behalf. This “baby leave” law, now in a trial phase, is modernizing the UK Parliament, bringing it closer to norms in ‘regular’ workplaces throughout the country. The changes should be of particular interest […]
Feb 26 2019 — Maximilian Kniewasser and Brianne Riehl — Pembina Institute — Three months ago, the British Columbia government released CleanBC, a new economic strategy aimed at getting us back on track to achieving our province’s climate targets. The plan’s stated objective is to shift B.C. from an economy powered by oil and gas to one increasingly powered by clean energy. This is an ambitious proposition. Given the […]
Feb 21 2019 — Policy Options — The next federal election is just eight months away. Immigration, and particularly asylum seekers and irregular border crossers coming from the US, is sure to be a thorny issue for the current federal government. These crossings, following on the heels of large numbers of Syrians seeking asylum in Europe, have stoked fears among many Canadians […]
Feb 19 2019 — Anyone who’s seen the crumbling concrete and rusting rebar on the Gardiner Expressway and had a momentary mental picture of crashing onto Spadina in a ball of flames knows what a small bit of rust and rot can do. Yes, the engineers and officials say it’s OK, and it might be for now. But we […]
Feb 15 2019 — Jake Fuss, Milagros Palacios and Jason Clemens — Fraser Institute — Fiscal prudence—the ability of the government to balance its budget and manage the finances of the country responsibly—is an increasing concern for Canadians. According to a recent Nanos poll, a majority of Canadians now favour balancing the federal budget more than continuing to run deficits to finance spending. Unfortunately the Trudeau government is focused almost […]
Feb 13 2019 — The concept of digital government, when we’re already living in a digital society, should be widely welcomed. This is especially true in the area of identification, where establishing who we are and what we’re eligible to do is one of the foundational tasks of government.
Feb 11 2019 — Policy Options — The minister for democratic institutions recently announced coordinated efforts to safeguard elections from online threats. The announcement highlighted concerns that social media platforms could be used to spread disinformation and exploit social tensions, and called for these companies to take “concrete actions to increase transparency, authenticity and integrity of their systems to help safeguard our […]
Feb 9 2019 — Dave Lovekin and Dylan Heerema — National Newswatch — Challenges and opportunities for hybrid microgrids. Vast distances separate Canada’s remote communities from their neighbours — and the energy systems many of us take for granted when we flip a switch. Since remote communities are not connected to either natural gas infrastructure or the North American electricity grid, they must produce their own energy […]
Feb 7 2019 — Policy Options — An emerging model of digital government pioneered by Estonia and India is illustrating how governments can do a better job of delivering services. Both countries have devised ways to make it easy for citizens to do simple things online – register a car or renew a passport, for example. But it’s the scalability and flexibility […]