Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Joseph Stiglitz discusses the link between perpetually-increasing inequality and the loss of social trust: Unfortunately, however, trust is becoming yet another casualty of our country’s staggering inequality: As the gap between Americans widens, the bonds that hold society together weaken. So, too, as more
Continue readingTag: royalties
Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Scott Doherty recognizes that Saskatchewan’s failure to collect a reasonable royalty rate for potash and other natural resources is directly responsible for the province crying poor when workers are laid off. And Alex Himelfarb points out that the magical theory behind perpetual tax
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Nick Cohen writes that the corporate sector is home to some of the most dangerous cult philosophy in the world: (T)he language of business has become ever more cultish. In the theory of “transformational leadership”, which dominates the business schools, the CEO is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On legacies
Peter MacKinnon’s report (PDF) on the possibilities for a Saskatchewan heritage fund is well worth a read. And I’ll readily agree with the central premise that it’s well worth setting up such a fund to turn one-time resource revenues into long-term benefits. But it is worth noting that MacKinnon’s proposed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On shortsighted assumptions
Time for a true or false pop quiz. Is the following a self-evident statement of economic fact? “A capital asset which is not currently being exploited has a value of zero for all purposes.” I only ask because that seems to be the fundamental assumption behind Andrew Leach’s cost-benefit analysis
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Oil and Gas Update: 2013 edition #nlpoli
First, the oil. Regular readers will recall the Article 82 issue that will affect how much money the provincial government collects from oil and gas development outside the 200 mile exclusive economic zone. Article 82 of the Law of the Sea Convention requires the coastal state to put up to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Gordon Hoekstra reports on a study by British Columbia determining that Canada lacks any hope of containing the types of oil spills which will become inevitable if the Cons’ pipe-and-ship plans come to fruition. But once again, the Cons’ response is to make
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Thomas Walkom sees Stephen Harper’s approval of dove hunting as an ideal metaphor for the gratuitous violence of his government: The wildlife service also estimates that new hunting rules will result in about 18,000 Ontario doves being shot each year. But, say hunt
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Mark Leiren-Young shares Corky Evans’ perceptive take on how the B.C. NDP has lost its way – and the message is one which we should apply elsewhere as well: I remember when one of the Leaders I worked for asked some guys
Continue readingSaving for a rainy day
The tragedy of recent historic flooding in Southern Alberta has had a profound impact on us. As an Edmontonian who spends a good deal of time in Calgary, my heart goes out to those who have been affected. Encouragingly, the Alberta spirit lives on and Calgarians will demonstrate resiliency as
Continue readingSaving for a rainy day
The tragedy of recent historic flooding in Southern Alberta has had a profound impact on us. As an Edmontonian who spends a good deal of time in Calgary, my heart goes out to those who have been affected. Encouragingly, the Alberta spirit lives on and Calgarians will demonstrate resiliency as the rest of us demonstrate … Continue reading Saving for a rainy day →
Continue readingSaving for a rainy day
The tragedy of recent historic flooding in Southern Alberta has had a profound impact on us. As an Edmontonian who spends a good deal of time in Calgary, my heart goes out to those who have been affected. Encouragingly, the Alberta spirit lives on and Calgarians will demonstrate resiliency as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Yes, it’s for the best that some of Canada’s pre-eminent scientists are offering to walk Joe Oliver through the realities of climate change. But Nik Beeson’s offer of political detoxification looks like the more important step for those of us who aren’t in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On effective departures
Obviously Erin Weir’s decision to withdraw from the Saskatchewan NDP’s leadership race and endorse Ryan Meili looks to be one of the most important developments of the campaign. While there’s still a wide range of possible outcomes among the remaining candidates, the movement of any substantial portion of Weir’s support
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #skndpldr Roundup
As expected, the last week has been a relatively quiet one in the Saskatchewan NDP’s leadership campaign – representing the break between membership recruitment and voter contact. But there have been a few developments worth noting. Most obviously, the latest debate took place in Yorkton. Scott has already posted his
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On disillusionment
John Warnock’s response to last week’s column (which focused on how anybody with an interest in Saskatchewan’s future direction should be interested in acting on that interest through party involvement) is worth a read in its suggestions as to the policies the NDP should stand for. But Warnock looks to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2013 Roundup
There’s a common theme to the last few days’ developments in the Saskatchewan NDP leadership race. While plenty of the campaigns are doing plenty worth talking about, they may have work to do in making sure interested members understand what’s happening. Perhaps most notably, there’s the contrast between Erin Weir’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2013 Roundup
While all has been relatively quiet from two of Saskatchewan’s NDP leadership camps, there’s still been some activity worth highlighting over the last few days. – First, Scott Stelmaschuk has made another massive contribution to coverage of the race with a thorough candidate questionnaire. And Erin Weir’s response tells us
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, expanding on my previous post as to why we should be wary of Brad Wall’s plans for potash royalties. For further reading, I’ll again recommend Mitchell Anderson’s Tyee series contrasting how Norway has handled its natural resources with Canada’s laissez-faire system. (And the lesson seems all the more applicable
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Gerald Caplan weighs in on Jack Layton’s legacy: It seems to me that Jack Layton’s enduring legacy is twofold. First, he set a standard of doing politics that, if followed by others, would change the entire tone of public life for the country.
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