Those who control the gold, rule: Putting parents in charge of education
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.
Evolution is dead; long live evolution
The effects of natural selection are doubtless more muted than at any time in human history. The efforts of humanity, and particularly Western civilization, have allowed us to shelter one another from the ravages of natural selection, through education, vaccination, sanitation, redistribution of wealth, labour laws, agricultural innovation, and a whole host of other institutions that have softened the pitiless rigours of the natural world. But that doesn't mean that nothing is changing. In this column, AIMS President, Brian Lee Crowley, demonstrates that whatever else characterizes our modern societies, change on a grand scale is a huge constant. But that change is so vast, and happening so quickly, that natural biological selection, which works over millennia, cannot possibly keep up. The natural selection that matters in the world today is not of individuals for their genetic endowment, but rather the selection of social institutions for the benefits they confer on us. The long C
AIMS On-Line for mid February 2002
Here is what's new at AIMS, Atlantic Canada's Public Policy Think Tank
Government Handouts in Newfoundland – The truth behind the Rhetoric
Ottawa Citizen writer Bruce Ward recently described the final episode of the Random Passage series as “The struggle of Irish immigrants in Newfoundland before the invention of government handouts.” Needless to say, this comment elicited a storm of negative responses from Newfoundlanders. In this reply piece, again in the Ottawa Citizen, Peter Fenwick, AIMS' regular contributor from Newfoundland and Labrador and former Director of Communications at the Institute, takes the Newfoundland government to task for perpetuating the negative stereotype that Ward was repeating. Fenwick argues that Newfoundlanders are struggling to reduce their dependence but their provincial government undoes much of their hard work in the eyes of the rest of the country with make-work projects and other policies little suited to a modern economy. Publication: OC, February 8, 2002
Robin Neill’s presentation to the Standing Committee on HRD and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
Robin Neill, Chair of AIMS Research Advisory Board, appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities during the statutory review of the Employment Equity Act. As part of his remarks, Professor Neill highlighted the difficulty with quotas by explaining to the committee that the problem now is a decline in the participation rate of males in the labour force. Employment of women is going up and the proportion of men employed is going down. Professor Neill asked if this then required legislation to improve the position of men, placing yet one more constraint on market forces? His answer is that what was not good for the gander is not good for the goose; we ought not to legislate advanced employment quotas of men in this country. What we ought to do is undo the legislation we now have on the books.
AIMS author discusses the potential role of for-profit hospitals and clinics
Professor Brian Ferguson identifies common Canadian myths about private health care systems and outlines the difficulties associated with estimating hospital productivity.
Canada First Puts Canada (and New Brunswick) Last
The efforts to implement a so-called "Canada First" export strategy for natural gas will seriously jeopardise the future of the natural gas industry in Atlantic Canada. This is the message that AIMS President, Brian Lee Crowley, brought to the National Energy Board during hearings in New Brunswick. According to Crowley, if such a policy had been in place ten years ago there would be no gas for us to fight about today – the Sable Offshore project never would have happened. Similarly, adopting New Brunswick's proposed changes would not only put at risk current developments like the Deep Panuke project, but the future of the industry on the East Coast as well. A policy that restrains gas exports will make large capital investments in Atlantic Canada difficult to justify especially when weighed against other areas of gas exploration worldwide.
Having Our Gas and Selling it Too
This third paper in AIMS Oil and Gas Series underlines that while natural gas markets in other jurisdictions across Canada and the continent are quite mature, here in Atlantic Canada natural gas has a virtually zero market share.
Health care: competition and the single payer
Provinces now pay over 85 per cent of the cost of increasingly costly public health care. This burden is inevitably driving governments to adopt an attitude of ever-greater neutrality between public and private suppliers of health care within our single-payer system. In this column, AIMS President, Brian Lee Crowley, explains the benefits to be gained when provincial governments act as purchasers of health care services on behalf of their citizens. Governments will soon buy health services wherever they can get the best quality and best access at the lowest price. Neither public nor private providers will get preferential treatment, and the general public will get better quality, more accessible health care because of it. Publication: CHH & MTT & VS & CH & OC, January 30, 2002