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Film Tax Credit Cuts Make Sense, Halifax Think Tank Says

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-04-15T00:00:00+00:00 April 15th, 2015|In the Media|

Film tax credit cuts make sense, Halifax think tank says Not government’s job ‘to prop up businesses’ The provincial government shouldn’t back down on cuts to the Nova Scotia film tax credit, the head of a Halifax-based economic think tank said Wednesday. “The business of government is not to prop up businesses,” said Marco Navarro-Genie, president and CEO of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. “It’s to run a government.” “The real point ought to be whether government should be engaged in doling out public money to money-making industries,” he said. “It’s not government’s place.” Navarro-Genie said government shouldn’t cherry pick industries to subsidize, essentially choosing winners and losers. Instead, he said the province should tally up all the subsidies offered to industry and invest the money into an across-the-board tax cut. He said this would be more fair as it would put all industry on equal footing.

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Grid Deal With N.B. Won’t Include Nuclear Power

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-04-08T00:00:00+00:00 April 8th, 2015|In the Media|

Nova Scotia won’t be getting nuclear power from New Brunswick, even though the two provinces have just hitched their electrical grids together, an NB Power official says. A Maine energy expert said he thinks joint dispatch will save money and end up being expanded to include Newfoundland and Labrador. “At the point that the Maritime Link is completed, the capacity on the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick line automatically increases without any new hardware,” Gordon Weil said from Harpswell, Maine. “That will improve the operation of an agreement like this.” Weil, a senior fellow on electricity policy forWeil, a senior fellow on electricity policy for the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax, said co-op dispatch is similar to the regional power pool for which he’s advocated. “There is no reason why this shouldn’t work and continue to work. And, eventually, I think there will be incentives to increase the ties among the provinces so that more power can be shared.”

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School Closure Policy Unlikely to Change

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-04-08T00:00:00+00:00 April 8th, 2015|In the Media|

Jacques Poitras (CBC News), discusses different viewpoints of policy 409 and school closures. The Rural Schools Coalition wants the government to suspend policy 409, but Minister Rousselle suggests that the government has to respect the policy

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Radio Interview with AIMS Fellow Michael Zwaagstra on Report Cards

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-04-08T00:00:00+00:00 April 8th, 2015|In the Media|

News 95.7, The Rick Howe Show interviews AIMS Fellow Michael Zwaagstra discussing teacher’s comments section of report cards.

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Public Sector Wage Restraint Should Top Whalen’s To-Do List

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-04-08T00:00:00+00:00 April 8th, 2015|In the Media|

Bill Black discusses the upcoming budget and the size of Nova Scotia’s public sector. “Civil Servants: As argued by AIMS and others, the number needs to be reduced. This will only happen if the government has specific plans to simplify or eliminate activities, and can identify the particular departments where savings are to be achieved”.

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How the Maritimes Became Canada’s Incredible Shrinking Region

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-04-02T00:00:00+00:00 April 2nd, 2015|In the Media|

John Ibbitson writes about how the Maritimes became Canada’s incredible shrinking region. After decades of declining fortunes, the Maritime provinces now find themselves trapped in what one observer describes as “a perfect storm” of economic and demographic decline. But the real problem is the makeup of the population that remains. Every year – due to a weakening economy, a dearth of immigrants, and a population reluctant to face these problems – there are fewer workers to pay taxes and more old people in need of government services.

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N.B. Education Minister Angry After Learning French and English Students Have Been Sharing a School Bus

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-03-27T00:00:00+00:00 March 27th, 2015|In the Media|

NB Education minister has vowed to take action after learning French- and English-speaking students have been travelling on the same school bus. Under a long-standing policy the provincial government claims it is constitutionally mandated to provide separate buses for anglophones and francophones. Dominic Cardy, leader of the provincial New Democratic Party, disagrees. “A local-level compromise — that was apparently entirely agreeable to the parents and the community — is now being ditched because someone is playing politics,” he said. A January report by the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies raised alarms these costs were rising disproportionately, citing separate buses as a cause. “Few politicians or school officials have dared to even ask if the sharing of bus services, on a larger scale, might result in significant savings to provincial taxpayers,” it said. In the 2014-15 school year, New Brunswick will spend $64.8-million to bus 90,000 students, or about $72

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Wage Standards: A One-dollar Fix for a $12 Billion Problem

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-02-27T00:00:00+00:00 February 27th, 2015|In the Media|

The Times and Transcript Editorial Board writes a letter urging the provincial government in New Brunswick to take measures that would rationalize public sector spending and cites a study published by the Institute in 2014.

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It’s Not About Big or Small, It’s About Good or Bad

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-02-27T00:00:00+00:00 February 27th, 2015|In the Media|

In an article published by the Times and Transcript, one author cites a study released by the Institute in 2014 that measures the size and cost of Atlantic Canada's public sector and argues that the issue is ultimately about whether we have the right composition of public sector employment and compensation, not about whether it is costlier or bigger.

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Snowed-under Class Time Needs to be Addressed, Minister Says

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2015-02-27T00:00:00+00:00 February 27th, 2015|In the Media|

On the heels of an opinion piece authored by Paul Bennett, New Brunswick's Minister of Education Serge Rouselle makes it a point to say that snow days have become an issue in the province and one that needs a solution sooner than later.

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