AIMS OP-ED PIECES
As a trusted voice in public policy, AIMS authors regularly appear in newspapers throughout the region and the country, including the National Post, Troy Media, the Telegraph-Journal, The Telegram, the Chronicle Herald and the Charlottetown Guardian. The Institute’s op-ed pieces provide an evidence-based voice for the public conversation. See below an archive of these pieces.
Newfoundland and Labrador faces fiscal crisis, other provinces should take note
By Ben Eisen and Alex Whalen Among the many challenges emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, a worrying story has emerged from Newfoundland and Labrador and other provincial governments across the country should take notice.On March 20, Newfoundland Premier Dwight Ball wrote a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau asking Ottawa for assistance in funding the provincial responses to the COVID-19 crisis ...
Read More
Read More
Employers must be allowed to temporarily lay off workers during COVID crisis
Appeared in National Newswatch, March 27, 2020 By Alex Whalen and Niels Veldhuis Aside from the enormous health-related challenges due to the COVID-19 virus, employers and workers are feeling major economic pain with job loss, reduced income and revenue. The ability of businesses to adjust quickly will be key to stabilizing the economy and laying the foundation for recovery.So far, ...
Read More
Read More
New Brunswick budget tackles debt but eschews meaningful tax relief
Appeared in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, March 16, 2020 By Jake Fuss and Alex Whalen Last week, the Higgs government tabled its 2020 budget. While the future of this government remains unknown, the budget highlights some of the important challenges facing the province. On the positive side, the government forecasts its fourth consecutive balanced budget, and recorded in 2019/20 its ...
Read More
Read More
Federal government making up fiscal rules on the fly
Appeared in Calgary's Business, January 5, 2020By Alex Whalen and Jake Fuss Last month, before the holidays, the Trudeau government released its fall economic update, which revealed—among other issues—that Canada’s federal debt-to-GDP ratio increased, meaning Canada’s debt has grown faster than the economy. This is particularly important because the government chose the debt-to-GDP ratio to guide federal fiscal policy. In ...
Read More
Read More
Nova Scotia’s health-care wait times among longest in Canada
Appeared in the Chronicle Herald, December 24, 2019By Bacchus Barua and Alex Whalen Nova Scotians are worried about health care—and rightly so, as the province’s wait times are among the longest in the country. According to a new study from the Fraser Institute, patients in Nova Scotia in 2019 waited 33.3 weeks, from referral by a family doctor to treatment ...
Read More
Read More
New Brunswick’s high level of education spending produces relatively poor student performance
Appeared in the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, December 22, 2019By Tegan Hill and Alex Whalen Policymakers in New Brunswick too often take the mistaken view that more spending on education means better results. In reality, the province spends well above the national average on a per-student basis, but performs relatively poorly on student tests. Simply put, we should worry less about ...
Read More
Read More
