Op-ed Archives - Page 72 of 84 -

The Battle over the Newfoundland Fishery

By Peter Fenwick| 2016-04-05T12:02:08+00:00 March 29th, 2002|Op-ed|

AIMS’ voice on the Newfoundland scene, takes aim in this piece at the anti-business stance of the Newfoundland and Labrador government in its dealings with Fisheries Products International. The company has developed plans to invest millions in new technology to create a high quality, highly professional fishery with plants that operate year-round. All agree that a modernized fishery is in the best interests of Newfoundland; the problem arises because a modern fishery requires a smaller workforce and work is already scarce in Newfoundland. Moving to protect current constituents from harm, the government is acting in a manner that, Fenwick argues, amounts to “nationalization without compensation” and will threaten, not protect, the very jobs the government is trying to preserve.

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Newfoundland Brings in Election-Style Budget

By Peter Fenwick| 2016-04-05T12:02:55+00:00 March 29th, 2002|Op-ed|

Newfoundland and Labrador, like all Canadian provinces, is in danger of hitting the health care wall, the point where insatiable demands of the health care system smack into the limited resources of the province. On March 22, in its latest budget, the province hit the wall, but through some rapid juggling of numbers it claims to have balanced its budget. This is the first in a new series of articles that Peter Fenwick will be contributing about public affairs and public policy in Newfoundland.

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Canada’s modern taxes: Thank the USA!

By Mark Milke| 2016-04-05T12:02:36+00:00 March 29th, 2002|Op-ed|

In this excerpt from Mark Milke’s new book, Tax Me I’m Canadian – Your Money and How Politicians Spend It, the idea that low taxes and a competitive edge are inherently American while the continual creation of new taxes or increases of existing taxes are purely Canadian obsessions is turned on its ear. As Milke points out: “For our earliest founders and Finance ministers, attracting immigrants and investment to Canada through the promotion of a low-tax regime was the stated goal for at least the first 50 years of our country’s existence. The Dominion’s leading politicians trumpeted Canada's lower taxes compared to the tax-happy Americans…” Contrary to what many tax advocates argue, cutting taxes and promoting immigration and investment isn’t about copying the pro-business agenda from the United States it is about getting rid of the American influence that has taken us so far from our own roots and left us uncompetitive in the global marketplace.

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What’s a Degree Worth?

By John Phillipe| 2016-04-05T12:05:17+00:00 March 1st, 2002|Op-ed|

Atlantic Canadian taxpayers invest substantial sums in our region’s universities, but what value are they actually receiving in return for their investment?

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AIMS talks about Atlantica with Commons Committee

By Atlantic Institute for Market Studies| 2002-02-26T00:00:00+00:00 February 26th, 2002|Op-ed|

Three key players in AIMS’ Atlantica project met with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to discuss the concept of Atlantica and its importance to this region and the country as a whole.

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St. Valentine’s Week Massacre

By Peter Fenwick| 2016-04-05T12:07:14+00:00 February 21st, 2002|Op-ed|

A widely used mineral index shows that most natural resource prices have fallen by 50% since 1950. Yet, in Newfoundland, the idea that natural resources increase in value the longer one waits has been used to justify policies that drove away investors, created regulatory bottlenecks and prolonged jurisdictional disputes. The results, according to Peter Fenwick, AIMS' voice on Newfoundland and Labrador and former Director of Communications at the Institute, is severe damage to the offshore oil sector, delays in the development of the Voisey’s Bay nickel project and a succession of governments that have let Churchill River power flow to the ocean without producing any wealth. In this piece, Fenwick considers whether the recent collapse of a significant portion of Newfoundland’s offshore oil industry will inject some semblance of reality into the collective consciousness, and lead to policies that promote wealth generation now before the resources decline another 50% in value.

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FPI, the South Coast, and the future of Newfoundland

By Peter Fenwick| 2016-04-05T12:06:16+00:00 February 21st, 2002|Op-ed|

After FPI announced it was putting tens of millions of dollars into modernizing three south coast plants and would have to lay off almost half the work force, politicians responded with hearings on the FPI Act. The public anger at the hearings was real, and the language abusive. In this commentary, Peter Fenwick, AIMS’ voice on Newfoundland and Labrador issues, says that now that FPI has been hobbled by the Newfoundland legislature, the future of the south coast is even more problematic. If the haemorrhaging of population from the south coast reported in the latest Census is to be staunched, it will only be by companies like FPI. Modernization has to go forward if any fish processing jobs are to be saved, but how FPI will finance it under the new rules remains to be seen.

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The Mazankowski health care report: a personal view

By Brian Lee Crowley| 2016-04-05T12:10:08+00:00 February 14th, 2002|Op-ed|

Comments from AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley to the Conference Board of Canada's Leader's Roundtable on the future of healthcare in Canada.

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Those who control the gold, rule: Putting parents in charge of education

By Ken Boessenkool| 2016-04-05T12:09:29+00:00 February 14th, 2002|Op-ed|

According to this Commentary by AIMS author Ken Boessenkool, a growing body of evidence shows that independent and home schools perform much better than public schools, even when you adjust for socio-economic factors such as education of parents and income. The goal in public education ought to be, then, to try and increase parental involvement in our public schools. Proposals exist to do just that, but many of them are problematic.

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