Equalization

ACOA Watch, AIMS most recent series of publications has drawn a curious response from the federal Minister responsible for ACOA, the Hon. Gerry Byrne. In an interview with Moncton Times Transcript reporter Campbell Morrison. Mr. Byrne said "Interesting to see where this ACOA Watch goes and their little newsletter, and see whether they are not walking, talking hypocrites," ACOA Watch is an independent objective analysis of Atlantic Canada’s primary federal economic development agency. In response to being read this and other derisive comments, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley responded, "Climbing down into this kind of personal attack suggests that the minister does not know what to say about the substance of the matter. I’d be glad to debate the substance with him but I am not going to get into name-calling with him."

Canada has squandered more than $1 trillion over the past 30 years in efforts to develop Atlantic Canada and it has done more harm than good, members of the Regina Chamber of Commerce were told. Brian Crowley, the founding president of the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies, said the failed efforts to develop Atlantic Canada's economy provides key lessons for Canada and for Saskatchewan. Those lessons are that direct government involvement in job creation and in the marketplace don't work, Crowley said.

On November 22, 2002 AIMS was the Atlantic Canadian organizer of a national consultation on US-Canada relations. This project, called "Borderlines" is a national, non-partisan effort put together by organizations and individuals across the country who share the belief that the evolution of Canada’s place in North America may be the most important issue of our time. In this piece from the Ottawa Citizen, journalist Robert Sibley highlights one of the key messages heard again and again throughout the day long event: The primary security threat to Canada is economic, and it comes from the United States. If we fail at the operational level to prevent a cross-border terrorist strike, even through no fault of our own, if we fail even once so that American lives are lost at the hands of agents who launched their assault from Canadian soil, the campaign to keep the border open will be immediately and entirely lost.