What happens if a rigid, far right ideologue who’s only experience in a public service role is a tale of obstruction, fundamental lack of understanding of the facts, radical disdain for the role of the public sector, childish spats and a seeming inability to compromise or work with anyone who disagrees with her
Continue readingTag: fraser institute
DeSmogBlog: ALEC Climate Change Denial Model Bill Passes in Tennessee
alec-exposed-600x400_0 (2).jpg The month of March has seen unprecedented heat and temperatures. A rational thinking, scientifically-grounded individual could only posit, "Well, hmm, I bet climate change has something to do with the fact that in Madison, WI, it is 80 degrees in mid-March. Sometimes it's 60 or 70 degrees colder
Continue readingTrashy's World: New school rankings!
The Fraser Institute school ranking have been released and Pleasant Park PS has moved up the scale considerably! Congrats! I am not a huge fan of these rankings (nor of the Fraser Institute.. in fact, everything else they publish outside of these rankings is little more than drivel), but I
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Fraser Institute Penalizing Rich Students… Sort Of
Unfortunately I was buried in research over the past week, which not only slowed down my usual production of posts but, worse yet, means I missed the fact that the Fraser Institute had released its long-awaited B.C. Elementary School Report Card. Interestingly, press coverage wasn’t nearly as positive as it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – David Climenhaga marvels at the fact that the Fraser Institute manages to claim charitable status while serving as an entirely political organization: The Fraser Institute is serious all right, although its research is not serious in the normal sense of transparency and lack
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: The Fraser Institute: 100% political and still a registered charity! Explain, please…
A typical Canadian taxpayer ponders the tax-deductible corporate pork that goes to support the Fraser Institute and its ilk. Below: Fraser Institute critics Donald Gutstein and Graham Steele; the Canada Revenue Agency, where is it? Other than Canadian political parties themselves, the Fraser Institute must be Canada’s most intensely political
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Fraser Institute: “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby”
Suppose you’re a three-pack-a-day smoker. Over the last couple of years, with a lot of hard work and sheer will power, you’ve cut back to half a pack a day. One doctor says you’ve done really good, and if you can now push to quit entirely, you’ll cut your risk
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: What – and who – is behind last week’s University of Calgary public sector pay fairy tale?
Ken Boessenkool and Ben Eisen consider their latest fairy tale. Alberta public policy commentators may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Tom Flanagan directs the Wildrose Party’s campaign while the Alberta media looks on. A similar caveat applies to this image. Below that: Mr. Eisen and Mr. Boessenkool as they
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Fraser Institute Slams Alberta’s Decision to Kill Bogus School Testing
Predictably, the Fraser Institute is not happy that the Albertan government is moving to abolish elementary school provincial achievement tests (PATs), which it uses as fodder for its dubious and worthless “Report Cards” — studies which are almost invariably used to cast doubt on public schools, promote “independent” private schools,
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: BS Fraser Institute Study Advocates Privatization of Minority Language Rights
The Fraser Institute’s first report of the new year is a strident attack on provincial bilingualism policies which attempts to count the costs of providing services to minority populations and, predictably, argues that the best solution is to “privatize” these services, meaning that either the government or, preferably, private citizens
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Alice offers her own take on Ian Capstick’s leadership musings by questioning why a current candidate would see more prospect of influencing the race by dropping out now rather than staying in the field: * It is worthwhile being able to win
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Fraser Institute Objects to Paper Size of New Financial Disclosure Requirements
The Fraser Institute has published a new report denouncing a set of new financial disclosures which mutual funds may eventually be required to make to investors. From a consumer protection standpoint, that sounds like a good thing to me. As usual, the Fraser Institute hacks feel otherwise, and they share
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Bruce Campbell comments on the link between rising inequality and declining democracy, while Rachel Mendleson notes that the erosion of workplace democracy and the labour movement is a key factor in both. – Meanwhile, Erin points out that while decades of corporatist policy
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Fraser Institute’s New Report on Healthcare — More of the Same
The Fraser Institute has released its regular survey of healthcare wait lists in Canada, and it says the results aren’t good: wait lists are too long, an average of 19 weeks, which they say is “the longest total wait time recorded since the Fraser Institute began measuring wait times.” And
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Dead folks no longer doing peer reviews
With my head still spinning from research on other projects, I thought for relaxation I would take shots at an absurdly easy target: the independent, research organization called the Fraser Institute. The Sixth Estate is a blog that regularly explores how money shapes public debate “in ways that are seldom
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Denial Of Facts Is No Way To Understand Science
On Thursday December 1st, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente declared herself a defender of scientific integrity by calling upon the scientific community to replace the “rhetoric” of climate change with open, honest debate. According to Ms. Wente, the impacts of climate change remain a future fantasy, unquantifiable by data collected
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Ideological perfection, Fraser Institute style: why democracy must be destroyed in order to save it
A neo-Con think tank gets ready to save democracy by crushing democracy. A “fellow” of the Fraser Institute stands to the far right. Who’s to say if this is not exactly as they appear? Below: Preston Manning (a Fraser Institute fellow himself) with Stephen Harper, in happier times; the Fraser
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Turn something you don’t use into cash! Perfesser Dave explains his plan for a free market in votes
Floor traders on Perfesser Dave’s Alberta Vote Exchange (AVOTEX). Market perfection may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Perfesser Dave. Some stories are just too complicated for ordinary bloggers to explain. That’s when we turn to the expert knowledge offered by Perfesser Dave, the Answer Guy. Perfesser Dave knows practically
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Sixth Estate On Fraser Insitute
They propose a study; your industry association ponies up the funds. This seems a fairly common practice among think tank “researchers. American Enterprise Institute fellow Roger Bate comes to mind. Here’s his pitch letter to Philip Morris for a book talking down the risk factors of cigarette smoking. PM turned him down but
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Dr. Dawg highlights the fact that a shift toward private charity doesn’t do anything to escape the Cons’ politicization of public services, as the Ottawa United Way is systematically defunding exactly the same women’s programs that have come under fire from the right
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