Radio: P3 Schools
Since the mid-1990s, Nova Scotia's government has made good use of public-private partnerships, or P3s, for school construction. Unfortunately, the record of these projects has been poorly understood, with some groups advocating that school construction be financed by government capital alone. In fact, the record of P3's has been strong. Government saved money through these partnerships [...]
Budget puts Island on good fiscal path
By ALEX WHALEN (Operations Manager) The Journal-Pioneer, 11 May 2017 Troy Media, 12 May 2017 Charlottetown Guardian, 13 May 2017 The P.E.I. government unveiled its 2017 budget in April, including a rare projection: a balanced budget. In the past decade, across all Atlantic Canadian provinces and party lines, surplus budgets have been few and far between. Deficits have also become fashionable at the [...]
P3 schools more successful than imagined, says new study
HALIFAX, NS – The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) today published a policy study about procurement for public school construction. With recent public controversy about "queue jumping" Nova Scotia school construction, the paper provides a sober commentary on the state of procurement in the province. AIMS is Atlantic Canada's only independent public policy research organization, publishing peer-reviewed studies on [...]
Reinventing the Building of Schools
The Real Legacy of Public-Private-Partnership (P3) Schools in Nova Scotia Reinventing the Building of Schools revisits the history of public-private partnerships for school construction. Though the province's experience with P3's since the mid-1990s has been widely described as a failure, the paper contends that the record is far more favourable. While there are numerous "hard lessons" to take from Nova [...]
Quantum – What?
By JOHN RISLEY (AIMS Chairman) • Atlantic Business Magazine, 9 May 2017 Quantum computing. The term has not yet entered the mainstream of everyday prose. If you’re anything like me, you are probably only vaguely familiar with what it means and therefore its implications. Not happy with my own naivety in this area, I recently set out to gain a [...]
Radio: Shifting to Milk Markets
Canada's dairy industry has become controversial of late. The US President characterizes Canadian protectionism in milk products as unfair to American dairy farmers. Mr. Trump has a point. Supply management, the complex system that governs our milk production, has long surpassed its best-before date. Domestic quotas and high tariffs on imported milk contradict the spirit of free trade. [...]