AIMS On-Line for mid June 2001
Here is what's new at AIMS, Atlantic Canada's Public Policy Think Tank
How to Save the Port of Halifax From a Slow Lingering Death
AIMS releases Port-Ability: A Private Sector Strategy for the Port of Halifax
The cruel hand of equalization
The time has never been better for the Atlantic provinces to lessen their dependence on federal transfers and to become masters of their own fate. Energy prices are high, shortages are emerging in Canada's major U.S. markets, and the Prime Minister has responded favourably to U.S. requests to speed up the development of new energy supplies. Yet, on average, about 40% of provincial budgets in the four Atlantic provinces still come from federal transfers, most in the form of equalization. AIMS President Brian Crowley and AIMS author Ken Boessenkool outline a straightforward solution to this dilemma in this op-ed piece published in The National Post. Removing nonrenewable natural resources from the equalization formula would provide the Atlantic provinces with the incentive to rely on natural resources development as a centrepiece of their economic strategy in place of pleading for larger transfers from equalization. Gone would be the days when an Atlantic province might forfeit a nickel
AIMS major generator of new policy thinking: Michael Bliss
Michael Bliss, a distinguished Canadian historian and policy thinker recently expressed his concern that the absence of strong party competition at the federal level means that political parties are not generating the renewal in policy thinking Canada needs. One of the alternative sources of fresh thinking that he sees filling that vacuum is a handful of national public policy institutes, including AIMS. Bliss says that these think-tanks are among the very few groups capable of generating the energy Canada needs to renew itself politically. Fortunately, people with new political ideas have not stopped thinking and writing, they have simply turned to think-tanks as they have turned away from partisan politics or government service.
…and the Twain Shall Meet Analysts from Eastern and Western Canada Agree on Need to Change Equalization
Emphasis must be on building Atlantic region’s capacity to pay its own way.
AIMS On-Line for the end of May 2001
Here is what's new at AIMS this week - Atlantic Canada's public policy think tank
Lines between political left and right overlapping
In a world in which a Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is one of the strongest defenders of the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, what is the meaning of 'Left' and 'Right' in politics today? According to AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley, the victory of 'Blatcherism' shows that a new equilibrium has been reached in the political mainstream, and the old political divide is being fundamentally redefined. Publication: CHH, May 23, 2001
Hewers of wood, drawers of tainted water
In his column in the Halifax Herald on Canada's drinking water problems, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley asks: "Why have people not been charged the full cost of their water, including needed investment to keep the infrastructure up to par? Because politicians get elected for making people feel good today, not for taking care of tomorrow. By underinvesting in the water system, and undercharging for water, they please voters today. But the necessary investment and improvements cannot be put off indefinitely. Walkerton and North Battleford are only the most obvious manifestations of the insidious decline caused by a political system that allows politicians to reward voters today at the expense of voters tomorrow. " Publication: CHH, May 9, 2001, OC, May 14, 2001
Chapter 11 guarantees free, and fair, trade
If you think that governments in Canada should be free to seize your property on a whim and pay you no compensation, then you are right to oppose Chapter 11-type provisions in Canadian trade agreements. But most people think that treating everybody fairly under the rule of law is about as Canadian as it gets.
Former Premier Peter Lougheed Joins AIMS Advisory Council
Says "AIMS work is becoming required reading"