Martin has called on Canadians to begin a national debate on what sort of government we want. Particularly, how much should it spend and on what? Publication; HDN November 7, 1999. By Fred McMahon
Labour Day, 1999 and millions of former welfare recipients will celebrate, many for the first time, their own work and the opportunity that brings. Welfare reform's astonishing success has startled even its most optimistic proponents. In many places, welfare "as we know it" is coming to end. Fred McMahon in the National Post
Fred McMahon reviews PAPER BOOM: WHY REAL PROSPERITY REQUIRES A NEW APPROACH TO CANADA'S ECONOMY By Jim Stanford of The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
In 1999, AIMS President Don Cayo writes, "I want tax cuts. I want important services maintained at - or brought back up to – a decent level. I want mountainous debts reduced so many more tax dollars can start funding services and stop paying interest. And I want it all now! I admit I’m dreaming – at least the part about wanting it all now."
You may think of Mississippi as a desperately poor U.S. state, and it is. On almost all measures of prosperity and economic success, it ranks at the bottom or very near the bottom of all U.S. states. Canadians' after tax income is lower than Mississippians. Of course, we have superior schools and health care, among many other things, but if Mississippi continues to get richer, and Canada poorer, that too may change. Rich Mississippians will find it easier to fund these services than poor Canadians.
The coal curtain is being swept away in Cape Breton, and maybe soon the steel wall - Cape Breton's subsidized steel industry - will come tumbling down. This should be a time of jubilee in Cape Breton, an occasion to pop champagne corks, not cry over split milk. Fred McMahon, 1999