Canadian Aquaculture: Drowning in Regulation, AIMS latest report on Canada’s aquaculture industry, argues that the current federal-provincial regulatory environment for aquaculture is dysfunctional and that fundamental institutional change is required if this potentially vibrant and growing industry is to achieve its full potential in Canada.
A special publication, released by AIMS in June 2002 in collaboration with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Montreal Economic Institute, providing a summary of our Sir Antony Fisher Award winning Equalization Initiative
This paper by Professor Paul Boothe of the University of Alberta focuses on a specific reform proposal. Boothe begins by reviewing a number of concerns with the current program related to its affordability/sustainability, its adequacy to meet its constitutional mandate, its transparency and accountability and its volatility.
Professors Michel Boucher and Jean-Luc Migué from École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP) and the Fraser Institute respectively uses a public choice framework to analyze empirically the impact of trade liberalization on intergovernmental transfers.
In this third paper based on the public choice approach, Professor Herb Grubel of the Fraser Institute argues strongly against transfers to individuals and governments in lower income regions of the country.
In this paper, Professor Bev Dahlby of the University of Alberta, extends the theoretical work of Smart (1998) that shows that equalization grants give recipient governments the incentive to set tax rates too high because a portion of the resulting loss of revenue is made up through equalization.
In this paper, Kenneth Boessenkool, a private policy analyst and commentator, makes the case for a practical change to the current equalization program: removing non-renewable natural resource revenue from the formula used to calculate equalization.
The paper by Professor Paul Hobson of Acadia University begins by reviewing the equity and efficiency rationale for equalization based on a simple theoretical model with costless migration and provinces that differ only in their endowments of natural resources.
Annette Ryan of the Prince Edward Island Department of Finance responds to critics of Equalization, arguing it is unfair to expect equalization to reduce inter-provincial disparity when no one argues that within-province transfers should eliminate all intra-province disparities.
For the third time in six years, Atlantic Canada’s public policy think tank has been honoured by the international think tank community. At a ceremony last Wednesday evening in Philadelphia, AIMS was awarded one of the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Awards for 2002 (Innovative Projects Category), for the Institute’s Equalization Initiative. The Fisher [...]