Elite influence is no myth
Do you believe “Big events (wars, recessions, elections) are controlled by small groups secretly working against the rest of us”? Abacus surveyed 1,500 Canadians on that question, and 44 per cent agreed. However, the pollster characterized those who “believe dangerous contrarian theories” and “mistrust what media report and what governments say” as “a poison affecting…
Students learn best when immersed in a content-rich learning environment that builds up their background knowledge
Instead of making students memorize a bunch of useless facts, we need to help them think like scientists and historians. Does this make sense to you? It probably does if you’re a curriculum consultant or an education professor. After all, that’s what’s being pushed in faculties of education. The problem is that this approach is…
This useless app has only contributed to the chaos at our major airports
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland thinks her government is too humble. At least that’s what she said when a reporter asked her why travellers are still forced to fill out the ArriveCAN app before entering Canada. After extolling the virtues of national humility, Freeland went on to take credit for saving 70,000 lives by enacting…
Supply chain problems, aging demographics and the push for net zero will drive up government spending
The era of low interest rates and inflation has ended, and now is the time for governments to show restraint. But recent precedent suggests that’s unlikely. Canadian year-over-year inflation hit 7.7 per cent in May, the highest in nearly 40 years, and I predict it will go still higher. Ten years ago, Parliamentary Budget Officer…
COVID will go around forever, endlessly mutating but relatively benign
If public health, a vibrant economy and preserving our constitutional freedoms were the goal, then Canadian institutions have gotten nearly everything wrong when it comes to COVID-19. Government policy, academia and mainstream media have fallen to COVID-ism, a condition where the COVID narrative formed in March 2020 must be maintained at all costs and dissent…
Government land-use regulations a principal source of this inequality
Canada’s housing affordability crisis is a matter of considerable concern, especially for young people trying to buy a house. The worst problems are in the Vancouver and Toronto markets with their excessive land-use regulation. Extensive international research associates stronger land-use regulation with diminished housing affordability. Vancouver and Toronto are experiencing substantial net migration of people…
Maybe it is time to revive the forgotten concept of reduce, reuse, recycle
It’s not even Calgary Stampede time yet – it looks like it will be a good old-fashioned free-for-all – and I’ve already encountered a fascinating drunken goofball at the top of his game. Nothing unusual there, I suppose, except that this encounter actually had an interesting and thoughtful punchline. It happened on the train to…
It’s unclear if the feds are doing higher-risk, lower-income mortgage debtors any real favours
Just a few months ago, a regular national discussion was about house prices and a lack of affordability. No longer. With house, townhouse and condominium prices cresting, imminent data may likely confirm serious price declines. Mortgage carrying costs are rising as interest rates and debt servicing costs climb. The mortgage qualifying threshold is receding rapidly…
It is the only way to ensure that future crises are managed better
Increasing numbers of Canadians are demanding a national, independent investigation into government mismanagement of the COVID-19 outbreak. Because governments themselves would be the subject of such an investigation, its conduct would need to be assigned to a non-governmental commission whose commissioners possess the experience, expertise and personal integrity necessary to render their findings credible with…
Drastic changes are needed. Millions of Canadians on wait lists know that. Why don't politicians?
Drastic changes are needed if we are to repair the Canadian health-care system. Millions of Canadians waiting for medically-necessary surgeries and procedures already know that. It’s time for the rest of us to catch up and start advocating for change. At least five million Canadians are without a family doctor. More than one million Canadians…