Black: Liberals Must Wiggle Out of Civil Service Straitjacket
Former NS elected official Bill Black discusses a study published recently by the Institute and argues that Nova Scotia's provincial government must take measures to reduce the size and cost of the province's public sector.
Time to be Bold and Shrink Public Service
As Nova Scotians await Premier Stephen McNeil’s spring budget, a member of the Ivany commission has made a bold suggestion that the government must look at: cutting the size of the civil service. John Bragg, president and co-CEO of Oxford Frozen Foods Ltd., suggested the cuts Wednesday at an address to an Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) event in Halifax. On the heels of the Ivany report — aptly titled Now or Never — we need bold action to reduce government costs. With a projected budget deficit of $220.6 million for 2014-15, a net debt of $14.8 billion, a stagnant economy, an aging population and rising costs, the province needs to figure out how to control spending. Governments commonly look to attrition to trim the public sector, but given the urgency of the challenges facing Nova Scotia, it may not be enough. Last year, AIMS released a report that said Nova Scotians have more civil servants, 99 per 1,000 residents, compared to the national average of 84 p
Ivany Report Anniversary Underlines Need for Change
In the year since the Ivany Commission told Nova Scotians that fundamental changes are needed to reverse the slide in the economy, critics say the government is "slow off the mark," implementing the changes. The report called "Now or Never: A Call to Action for Nova Scotians" made 19 recommendations that include boosting exports and the number of new businesses, as well as attracting more people to Nova Scotia. John Bragg is the founder and president of Oxford Frozen Foods, the world's largest blueberry producer, and a member of the Ivany Commission. He gave the keynote speech Wednesday night at an event called For the Love of Nova Scotia, hosted by the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies. Here's Bragg's assessment of what progress the province has made, one year later: "Well I'm not either satisfied or disappointed, but I do think we are slow off the mark," said the Cumberland County blueberry baron and owner of Eastlink Cable.
John Bragg: Cut Civil Service to Help Dig NS Out of Debt
Nova Scotia should cut its civil service and use the savings to help dig itself out of debt, says businessman and former Ivany report commissioner John Bragg. The province has 99 civil servants per 1,000 residents, well above the national average of 84 civil servants per 1,000 residents, Bragg said quoting a recent study prepared by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. Bragg offered the advice during a keynote address at an institute function in Halifax Wednesday evening that marked the one-year anniversary of the release of what has become known as the Ivany report. Its official title is Now or Never: an urgent call to action for Nova Scotians. “These are not easy issues to solve. They take fortitude and guts,” Bragg said.
Manitoba’s Bloated Public Sector
The harsh reality is that the province may have little choice. Manitoba currently finds itself in a precarious fiscal situation. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has calculated Manitoba’s debt to be exceeding $30 billion in 2013, with the present provincial government intent on adding another $24 billion in debt for Manitoba Hydro alone, this to build dams and transmission lines for shaky export markets against prevailing expert advice. A recent joint study by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies found that equalization payments to Manitoba are falling because fiscally challenged Ontario is increasingly crowding out the traditional have-nots at the federal transfer payment buffet table. The obvious answer is to bring, over time, provincial public sector employee complements down towards the national average sooner rather than later and save a very useful $2 billion annually.
One Year Check Up: Looking at the Ivany Report
The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies hosted a panel discussion on Wednesday, February 11 at the World Trade and Convention Centre, which looked into issues that the OneNS commission identified and debated whether Nova Scotia’s economy was headed in the right direction. Panelist and AIMS board member Don Mills appeared on Global TV with AIMS President and CEO Marco Navarro-Genie to discuss the event.
The Cost of Golf Tourism in PEI
In an interview with News 95.7 host Sheldon MacLeod, AIMS author and independent economic and public policy consultant Ian Munro discusses his most recent study, “Short of the Green,” which analyzes PEI’s golf tourism strategy and argues that it left provincial taxpayers on the hook unnecessarily.
Report Critical of PEI Government Golf Investment
A new report says P.E.I. taxpayers have lost millions of dollars because of the provincial government's investment in the golf industry. Tourism and Culture Minister Robert Henderson says the provincial government will continue to promote and market the golf industry on P.E.I. (CBC) The Atlantic Institute of Market Studies report released today said the investment in golf made in the 1990s did not have the expected economic impact. Public policy consultant Ian Munro prepared the report for AIMS. He said the provincial government is still deeply in debt 25 years after spending millions of dollars to build and operate golf courses. "The strategy may have seemed compelling but a combination of bad luck and strategic missteps resulted in a policy failure," said Munro.
Government Calculators Out of Whack
I don’t normally spend a lot of time taking reports from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) as gospel. The think-tank — a registered charity — describes itself as providing “a distinctive Atlantic Canadian perspective on economic, political and social issues.” I mean, I read AIMS reports — I read everything — but it often seems to me that while the scholarship is fine, the choice of what’s to be studied seems to suit a particular business-based world view. Which probably isn’t surprising, given its funders. (Those same funders get income tax receipts, even in this world where charities that try to affect public policy — at least the ones whose work doesn’t dovetail with the federal Conservatives — seem to get quickly and mysteriously selected for audits by tax authorities). But more on that another day. This week, AIMS released a report on golf courses in P.E.I., and the thrust of the research essentially proves a bit of a truism about government investment in bu
AIMS Report Much Too Harsh on PEI Golf Industry
At one point in the early to mid-1990s on P.E.I., building a golf course was considered a licence to print money. A popular story that regularly made the rounds in those heady days was that a farmer went to the bank looking for a loan to expand his agricultural operation and was turned down. The farmer then asked about possible financing to build a golf course instead and the bank asked, “How much do you want?” The golf boom was in full bloom and nothing could stop it. A report released Tuesday by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies provides a harsh assessment of our provincial government’s involvement over the years in P.E.I.’s golf industry, suggesting it was a poor investment which ended up costing the province millions. The study doesn’t mention the revenue generated by golf nor what our tourism industry would be without our courses. The study is both narrow in scope and often too critical.