Radio Project audio
Radio: The Size and Cost of the Public Sector
Provincial public sector employment rates in the Atlantic region, relative to population, are higher than in the rest of Canada. Nationally in 2013, 17.8 % of all jobs were in the provincial public sector. By contrast, in the Atlantic provinces, this figure is 22.6%. Atlantic provincial governments could reduce the gap by half, [...]
Radio: A New Economy
The development of the internet has challenged our traditional way of thinking about many things. Among which are wealth, value and entrepreneurship. Today, adventurous entrepreneurs are unlocking value from unused portions of their households or unused times for their vehicles. Naturally, we're referring to eBay, Uber and Airbnb. They have taken chunks in [...]
Radio: Global Education
A generation ago, Canada was one of a relatively privileged number of industrialized economies that could afford to provide its citizens with high quality, public education. Today, country's with low skilled and poor populations are rapidly modernizing and are making unprecedented progress in their education and training. When yesterday's generation first entered the [...]
Radio: Healthcare Reform Needs Citizens Voices
Canadians want better healthcare, but their participation in health reform is difficult. Ordinary citizens don't readily have useful information about waiting times, results of care, the rate of preventable mistakes in their local facilities or even their own health information. The way forward and the most immediate, actionable way would be to promote [...]
Radio: Innovating Registry Services
Innovating portions of the public service can result in big savings, which can be put towards paying down debt or lowering taxes. Four provinces have already made changes to their registry services, achieving good outcomes for tax payers, government revenue and public sector workers. Governments of different stripes introduce such beneficial changes. The [...]
Radio: Healthcare Needs
Nova Scotia's healthcare system is plagued with governance and administrative problems, long wait times and poor worker morale. These problems stem from flawed information gathering processes that make it difficult for the provincial government to manage healthcare expenditures. If the provincial government wishes to reduce healthcare costs, it will be necessary to adopt [...]
Radio: Declining Equalization Payments
All three maritime provinces rely heavily on equalization payments from the federal government to fund their programs. Ontario's emergence as a "have-not" province however has placed pressure on the equalization system and is leading to reduced equalization payments as a share of GDP in all three provinces. Last year, approximately two-thirds of all [...]
Radio: Economic Growth and Education Reform
There is a clear link between high quality public education and economic development. Outstanding public schools provide the foundation for professional and advanced skills training and are necessary for the development of an educated, competitive workforce. Governments should make use of data analysis techniques to improve public education. For example, the government in P.E.I. [...]
Radio: Sovereign Funds
No matter how well-intentioned governments are, when it comes to resource revenue they and the people who elect them, tend to spend now and think later. We need a better model to avoid large swings that affect our budgets. Saving resource revenue and using the earnings pays off, no matter what governments want [...]
Radio: Economy vs. Environment
Canada's energy sector has maintained this country inside the lines of economic prosperity at a time when the rest of the world has suffered through a severe economic crisis. Our policies need to reflect that the Atlantic region can gain significantly from energy development without sacrificing environmental standards. Yet radical environmentalists continue [...]