PEI Golf Missing the Cut
Roughly 25 years ago, the province took a real shine to golf as a tool to draw tourists to P.E.I. With the sport booming across North America in the 1990s, the government decided to make golf development a centerpiece of its tourism and economic development strategies. A new research report from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) concludes the efforts were largely a flop — and quite a costly one at that. The paper, called Short of the Green: Golf as an Economic Development tool on Prince Edward Island, states that the Crown corporation created specifically to operate provincially owned courses has lost money in 10 of the last 14 years.
Provincially-owned Golf Courses Continue to Bleed Red Ink on PEI
Ian Munro, an independent economic and public policy analyst and AIMS author, discusses the results of his most recent study looking into PEI's golf tourism strategy: "After the turn of the millennium, the golf boom crashed, tourism traffic dropped and the provincially owned courses began to bleed red ink."
Short of the Green: Golf as an Economic Development Tool on Prince Edward Island
Ian Munro, an independent public policy analyst born on Prince Edward Island (PEI), argues in this paper that PEI's efforts to bolster tourism on the Island using the golf industry have largely failed. He insists that the government made “tactical errors” and that it “relied on simplistic projections, while failing to consider risks and alternative scenarios.”
MEDIA RELEASE: New Study Analyzes PEI’s Golf Tourism Strategy
Halifax, NS (10 February 2015): A new research report from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) shows that Prince Edward Island’s (PEI) golf development efforts, which were intended to boost tourism to the Island, were largely unsuccessful. [...]
Zero Gain
The Telegram's editorial board discusses an opinion piece authored recently by AIMS Fellow in Education Policy Michael Zwaagstra about no-zero education policies in Newfoundland and Labrador.
No-zero Policy Goose-egged by Educator, Author
Writing for the Pilot, Josh Pennell discusses an opinion piece authored by AIMS Fellow in Education Policy Michael Zwaagstra.
No-zero Schools = Bad Workers
In a letter to the editor of the Province, an individual from British Columbia discusses an opinion piece published by AIMS Fellow in Education Policy Michael Zwaagstra.
No-zero Policy Non-existent: Education Director
Writing for the Aurora Newspaper, Josh Pennell discusses a letter to the editor and an article quoting educator, author, and AIMS Fellow in Education Policy Michael Zwaagstra, who ridiculed the local policy of teachers not being able to give zeros or fail students for incomplete work.
Canada and the Question of Free Tuition After High School
AIMS Director of Research Ben Eisen participates in a debate on CBC's "The 180" about whether post-secondary education should be free in Canada. He argues that there are a number of harms associated with free tuition, namely the expense borne by taxpayers, and secondly, that removing a major source of funding from post-secondary institutions in the country may harm them.
School Busing Costs Challenged in AIMS Report
A report released by AIMS and authored by Paul Bennett and Derek Gillis outlines the rising cost of student transportation in the Maritimes, despite declining enrolment.