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Part One: How big are business subsidies in Atlantic Canada? Follow the Money Trail.
AIMS yesterday released “Following the Money Trail” by UNB economist David Murrell. This study shows that recent claims that the business sector in Atlantic Canada gets fewer subsidies than businesses elsewhere in the country are not correct. In fact, when measured appropriately (and conservatively), business subsidies in the region range from 27 – 29 percent higher than the national average.
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Part Two: Economic growth: best friend of the poor
The globalization protesters are gearing up to disrupt the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City as they have disrupted other major international gatherings in the past year. One of the key objections to the growth of global markets and trade was summed up by Lori Wallach, one of the leaders of the anti-WTO protests in Seattle. Globalization, she claimed, harmed the poor, preying on the world’s most vulnerable: “While the macroeconomic indicators have often looked good, real wages in many countries have declined, and wage inequality has increased both within and between countries.”
If accurate, that’s a pretty damning indictment of global market capitalism. Unfortunately for Ms. Wallach – but not for the poor – it is just the opposite of the truth. *************************************************
Part Three: AIMS shortlisted third time in 5 years for Sir Antony Fisher Award
For the second year in a row and the third time in five years, AIMS has been honoured by the international think tank community. AIMS is once again on the short list for one of the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Awards, this time for the book Road to Growth, by the Institute’s former Senior Policy Analyst, Fred McMahon.
The Fisher Awards commemorate the life and work of Sir Antony Fisher, (a founder of the prestigious Institute for Economic Affairs in London, England) by recognizing excellence in public policy think tank publications. The panel of judges for the Fisher Prize includes Nobel Laureate James Buchanan, former New Zealand High Commissioner to Canada, Maurice McTigue, former Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Martino, world-renowned economist and teacher, Israel Kirzner, and many other prestigious figures. Winners will be announced in San Francisco, California on 2 May 2001 in the presence of Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman and his wife Rose.
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Part Four: Blue Revolution: From fishing to farming the seas – Plus Vancouver conference proceedings
According to AIMS president, Brian Lee Crowley, a revolution is underway off the world’s coasts. In that revolution, the old “capture fishery” – hardy men in boats battling the elements and each other for an unpredictable share of the wild fish swimming by – is waning. In its place is emerging the technology and the expertise to farm the seas in a stable, predictable way. Not agriculture, the cultivation of the land, but aquaculture, the cultivation of the waters.
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Part Five: Public participation in public policy: how much is enough?
The Private Foundations of Canada organization recently held a seminar in Toronto for its members on public participation in policymaking in Canada. AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley was invited to address the group on the central problems of modern Canadian democracy and the role of the public in policymaking. In his remarks, he identified what he called six main disharmonies within our democratic and participatory practice, namely:
Disharmony between the participatory ideal and the apathetic practice
Disharmony between the rhetoric of democracy’s power, and the practical limits on its operation
Disharmony between appearance and reality, between intentions and outcomes
Disharmony between who pays and who benefits
Disharmony between the time scales of democratic decision making and those of the larger society
Disharmony between the scale of democratic institutions and the scale of the decisions that now must be made
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