AIMS presents Stephen Harper's first major policy speech in Atlantic Canada as Leader of the Opposition, AIMS on impact of 9/11, the federal Tories seek AIMS' advice on regional development and Brian lee Crowley on corporate governance.
Prescriptions to fix the world’s problems by restricting economic growth are a prescription for the exact opposite.
Leader of the Opposition, Stephen Harper, outlines his vision for a prosperous Atlantic Canada within a dynamic federation.
At the first of four national conferences to launch a national dialogue on Canada's role and place in North America, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley was invited to talk about how continental integration is affecting Canada's regional policy. In his presentation, he spoke about how the 1989 Free Trade Agreement repudiated Sir John A. Macdonald's old National Policy and its assumption of an east-west economy defying the southward tug of the business giant on the other side of the border. Abandoning the National Policy also implied, whether Canadians realised it or not, the end of the political underpinnings of our massive transfer system for the less-developed parts of the country. As Ontario and Alberta become increasingly restive in their role as bankrollers of these transfers, the transfer recipients need to concentrate their efforts on reducing dependence, and increasing trade with the US must clearly be part of any strategy that can hope to succeed. An abridged version of this t
Second, in a discussion of budgetary choices facing the federal government, he emphasized the wrong-headedness of holding on to labour policies designed to address systemic unemployment when the real challenge facing the country, and the world, in the 21st century is substantial labour shortages.
Finally, he offered some insights on the solutions being proposed to address the current crisis in corporate governance. Unlike those who see the solution in draconian new laws, Crowley sees the marketplace, investors and the existing criminal law rapidly meting out blame and punishment in a highly effective manner. What is needed over and above that is a moral and ethical renewal in our business and political leadership, something no law can accomplish by itself.
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
In this CBC Radio interview, AIMS’ author Kenneth J. Boessenkool discusses equalization’s design flaws and its negative impact on Newfoundland and Labrador. The author of AIMS’ new report, “Taxing Incentives: How Equalization Distorts Tax Policy in Recipient Provinces”, explains how equalization’s methodology creates incentives for Newfoundland, and other recipient provinces, to overtax their population. Because of the way the payments are currently being calculated, personal income taxes are about a quarter higher in Newfoundland than Ontario. Boessenkool also reminds listeners of the message from one of his earlier AIMS’ papers - Taking off the Shackles: Equalization and the Development of Nonrenewable Resources in Atlantic Canada. Inappropriate inclusion of non-renewable natural resources (for example the mineral deposits of Voisey’s Bay) in the equalization equation, hampers the development and realization of the full potential of those resources.
The program isn't working, says Kenneth J. Boessenkool, author of AIMS’ latest report on equalization, “Taxing Incentives: How Equalization Distorts Tax Policy in Recipient Provinces”. The Constitution provides for equalization to ensure provinces can deliver services at "reasonably comparable levels of taxation". The study's author said his findings suggest that on average, personal income tax is about 33% higher in the poorer provinces than in the so-called "have" provinces. This would suggest that Canada's $10.5-billion equalization program may be doing exactly the opposite of what it’s suppose to. Paul Hobson, an economics professor at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, disagrees with these conclusions. Hobson believes that equalization promotes fairness and that poorer provinces have higher taxes, not because they receive payments, but because they have lower average incomes and a smaller tax base. Boessenkool agrees that while equalization does do some good, the basic question r
Equalization creates incentives for poorer provinces to keep taxes too high