Questioning International Experience with MSAs leads AIMS author to reply
Medical Savings accounts have been tried, with success on the international scene. A recent article by Samuel E.D. Shortt in the Canadian Medical Association Journal has led AIMS author David Gratzer to review and re-emphasize the lessons learned elsewhere for the benefit of those engaged in the Canadian health care debate.
Study sparks AIMS reaction and ongoing debate in the Globe
AIMS’ reaction to a recent study by Evelyn Forget, Raisa Deber and Leslie Roos has led to an interesting exchange of ideas in the pages of the Globe. The study claimed to show that MSAs would not result in any cost savings for government but would instead result in an increase in health spending by governments.
Offshore at ‘critical’ stage
Concerns about dry wells and rising political risk were voiced during the Atlantic Gas Symposium in Halifax last week. So far, EnCana, formerly PanCanadian, has drilled three dry holes offshore. In an interview published in the Halifax Sunday Herald, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley argues that while three dry holes won't likely spur the industry to leave, it will be important to have good news soon. At around $70-million per hole, it is expensive to drill here, as opposed to Alberta and other oil and gas palys competing for exploration dollars. Even while questions surrounding long-term natural gas supplies in the offshore exist, an even more menacing threat may be New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord’s “Canada First” Policy. “It’s making companies nervous” said Dr Crowley, backed by representatives from the oil & gas industry, and could hurt the future of offshore activity in our region. Publication: CHH, July 21, 2002
Don’t stop us from selling our gas
After two decades, Albertans have not forgotten the many people who lost their homes, their businesses and their dreams as a result of the National Energy Program. The rationale and rhetoric of the old National Energy Program are being echoed on the East Coast today. In a case currently before the National Energy Board, New Brunswick is asking that all future exports of Nova Scotia's natural gas be allowed to reach markets in the United States only "after Canadian needs have been assessed and met." In this Globe piece, Premier John Hamm explains why New Brunswick’s actions place the entire industry in jeopardy and he turns to AIMS to provide a clear, concise account of what would happen if New Brunswick’s policies applied to other industries and what will happen if New Brunswick is successful before the NEB – tremendous damage to Canada as an exporter and to its reputation as a place to invest.
ACOA “giddy with success”
The minister responsible for ACOA, Gerry Byrne, has been publishing articles around Atlantic Canada in recent days to trumpet the successes of his agency and to ridicule those who think that the money devoted to ACOA would be better spent on federal tax cuts in the region. AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley disagrees with Mr. Byrne saying his claims about the overall impact of ACOA beggar belief, and destroy the credibility of ACOA’s more modest but real accomplishments - like it’s recent emphasis on university research. Crowley points out that the amount that ACOA spends in this region is roughly equivalent to what the federal government collects here in corporate income tax alone. ACOA, therefore, really creates no new economic activity in the region, but simply substitutes activities that Gerry Byrne and friends want to promote for activities that Atlantic Canadians would choose to spend their money on if they weren’t so heavily taxed to begin with. Publication: CHH & MTT, July 17, 2
Nationalism and Natural Gas don’t mix – AIMS on CBC
In an attempt to reserve any new discoveries of offshore natural gas for Canadians, New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord wants the National Energy Board to only allow the exporting of natural gas to the US, the gas’s chief market, after Canadian needs have been assessed and met. Premier Lord feels oil companies are refusing to sell enough gas to Canadians, and as a result the economic development of some areas, such as northern New Brunswick and eastern Quebec, is being hurt. In this recent CBC Commentary, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley says “Premier Lord, it just ain’t so”. Gas companies have already made substantial supplies available locally, but are now suffering because so few people have signed up – preferring to stick to more traditional forms of fuel.
Welfare, EI blamed for East Coast’s dependency on federal transfers
A survey conducted by Statistics Canada this week suggests that the four Atlantic provinces are the country’s most dependent on government transfers. AIMS’ President Brian Lee Crowley attributes this fact partly to the EI and welfare recipients that stay home instead of training or looking for work. "Once everybody's stamped up for EI, nobody has any reason to want to work," he said in an interview Thursday. Crowley suggests reforming the current system so that it would not pay out money to those eligible unless they entered re-training programs and started doing “the jobs that need doing”. Publication: CHH, July 12, 2002
AIMS On-Line for July 2002
Here is what's new at AIMS, Atlantic Canada's Public Policy Think Tank
Sucking The Well Dry
Competition or protection? Although oil and gas production off the East Coast is booming, Atlantic Canadians fear that our resource will be sold off and we will have far too little to show for it. Dr. Thomas Tucker, AIMS Fellow in Natural Resource Policy, emphasizes how government policy designed to ensure this region gets its “fair share” of economic activity generated by the offshore, often has the opposite effect. The debate about how to maximize our O&G related activity really comes down to a basic question: Should we be given a major share of economic benefits that the oil and gas industry can produce without earning them? The way we answer that question will shape the oil and gas industry on the East Coast for years to come, and Tucker’s article invites us to choose wisely, understanding the long term nature of the O&G industry, and the proper benchmarks for measuring this region’s success in getting maximum benefit from our resources. Publication: ABM, June/July 2002