Job Creation Does and Don’ts: Ask a Farmer
If governments can set and meet targets for reducing the deficit, why not do the same for unemployment?
Subsidies corrupt our political system
Baffling. That is the only way to describe public reaction to the Nova Scotia government’s recent announcement that it is pouring tens of millions of dollars more aid into Sydney Steel. It’s not baffling that the government has made the decision, of course. That was perfectly, if depressingly, predictable. What is baffling is why people are mystified that the government would stump up more cash.
Tolls roads – coming soon to an interchange near you
Until quite recently, I never thought I’d see the day when Maritime roads would fall into private hands. This is a region where politicians know they must deliver big-time largesse. And they know their voters are slow to warm to new ideas.
Ottawa’s reforms no way to run a port
If you’re excited about the economic potential for our major ports, such as Halifax and Saint John, you should be mad as hell right now. Ottawa is missing a golden opportunity to give our ports the kind of structure that has helped turn CN from basketcase into economic powerhouse. Instead, we’re in line for business pretty much as usual in the never-never land of government dominated businesses.
Gassing up the welfare trap machine
Ottawa-bashing, long a favourite local sport, is about to be given a new lease on life by offshore natural gas. At least that is where we seem to be headed in the controversy about how the tax revenues from this natural resource should be shared between Ottawa and Nova Scotia.
Looking the Gift Horse in the Mouth
In AIMS' first book, Fred McMahon shows in a detailed and well-documented way what many people in the region had suspected for years, namely that the huge government presence in the region politicizes the economy, inflates the region's costs and leads people and businesses to look to government support rather than to their own abilities. He then goes on to show how orderly reform of federal transfers will help to overcome these challenges.
Atlantic Provinces Receive Failing Grades on Debt Control
Budget surpluses are so thin they provide no margin of safety
Turning Pain into Gain
Sir Roger Douglas, New Zealand Finance Minister provides lessons from NZ's comprehensive government restructuring program