Those who care about the climate act; those who care about blah blah blah will all be in Glasgow
The Cop26 climate summit starts in Glasgow, UK, on October 31, and countries must deliver tougher pledges to cut emissions to keep the goal of 1.5C within reach. According to the UN, carbon emissions will rise by 16 per cent by 2030, rather than fall by half as governments previously agreed to in Paris at…
Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Adam Germain's ruling hostile to a free and democratic society
Politically determined public health guidelines during the covid-19 pandemic have come with a cost. Governments have defined essential and non-essential services, ostensibly to ensure Canadians have access to food. Not all can afford essential services food – that’s a story for another day – so food banks have remained open alongside grocery sellers. Several non-essential…
Raising corporate taxes would hurt firms’ profitability and growth. Employment and wages would suffer
The finance ministers of more than 130 nations and territories have arrived at a tentative agreement to create a tax floor – a minimum corporate tax rate of a proposed 15 per cent. Its proponents, sadly including Canada, claim it will create a "level playing field" and stop a "race to the bottom." Some nations face…
And may make the situation worse
In July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced the arson and vandalism of Catholic churches across Canada in the wake of discoveries of unmarked graves at former residential schools. After more than 1,100 unmarked graves were discovered at the sites of schools previously run by the Catholic Church in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, protests erupted. Statues…
Governments have to stop giving in to populist pressures
Now that the federal election is over, several financial sector experts and economists are turning their attention to the Trudeau government’s promise to raise the corporate income tax rate for banks and insurance companies from 15 per cent to 18 per cent. But while attacking these financial giants can pay off politically, the fact is…
Any sane person understands that plastic-phobia is irrational and a non-problem
Canadian governments, like many around the world, are once again in the grip of toxic plastic-phobia: an irrational and potentially harmful fear of plastics. Proposals to ban “single-use” plastics (under varying definitions) are all the rage across Canada, where the plastic-phobes, like locusts, have re-emerged from the obscurity imposed on them by the imminent spectre…
The pandemic is making scapegoats of those that only yesterday we called fellow citizens and neighbours
American writer Lance Morrow recently identified our current moment as the golden age of stupidity. No evidence exists that the author of America: A Rediscovery and Second Drafts of History was peeping across the border watching the 2021 Canadian federal election when he made the claim. That’s probably a good thing. Morrow's language might have…
If the sector disappeared, taxes would have to be increased substantially to provide us with the services we have come to expect
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre Between 1969 and 2019, Canadian parents received $499 billion in family allowance payments and children’s benefits from the federal government. That 50-year cost was matched by $505 billion in revenues to governments from the oil and gas sector – except that such taxpayer cash was collected…
The conflation of state and individual has long been popular among those who crave power over others
Last spring, Trent University Professor Christopher Dummitt took us all to task for our insufficient dedication to the collective – which, he worries, leaves those who “call for national sacrifice” on behalf of “the collective will” in a bind, bereft of the obedience they deserve. Dummitt’s alleged “collective action problem” betrays a fundamentally illiberal misunderstanding…
But many Canadian women feel they don't have any alternative
The 2021 Canadian election has begun, and that means that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is talking about abortion. This isn’t primarily a tactic to rake in new votes; Trudeau’s team knows that solidly pro-abortion voters are already voting Liberal, and the ambivalent majority doesn’t make it a ballot issue. But pushing abortion at home and…