How to Decide Whether Public-Sector Employeers Are Overpaid
Recently I took a Globe & Mail columnist to task for arguing that Ontario’s public school teachers are overpaid. As a humble blogger I hardly expect a response from such…
Economy and Taxation
Harper Regime May See Quebec EI Demands as Opportunity, Not Problem
When the Parti Quebecois announced that one of their strategies as a new government — if they ever form one — would be to provoke a fight with the federal…
Race-Baiting, National Post Style
The National Post has an interesting article arguing that over the past couple of years CSIS has been monitoring relationships between the First Nations and the government of China. The…
Petro-State Politics Threaten Democracy, Sovereignty, Common Sense
Another day, another Canadian oil company swallowed up by its foreign competitors. Oh well, right? Here’s a fun fact from history: Stephen Harper used to be a Liberal activist, even…
National Post Proposes Privatization of Market Index That is… Already Private!
There’s been a great deal of nonsense in the press about the ongoing price-fixing scandal in the banking sector — in which, in case you haven’t heard yet, there is…
What You Should Have Read About in Yesterday’s Unemployment Rate News
As usual, the moment StatsCan’s monthly jobs survey numbers go even slightly squirrelly, the media proves utterly unable to handle it. When news broke yesterday, Canadians were variously told that…
Reform of Pampered Public Service Must Begin at the Top
Okay, first of all, is there any real doubt where this mysterious leak of a confidential government report on public service sick leave actually comes from? Whether you agree with…
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics on Canada’s Poverty Rate
Recently the National Post’s resident anti-government wingnut, William Watson, sallied forth with a strangely positive report on what he calls Canada’s poverty rate, which he says has fallen to an…
Four Trillion-Dollar Industries the Canadian Government Could Invest In
I want to follow up on my recent post, suggesting that rationally planning for the future might not be such a stupid idea after all, by turning to the next…
Employment Insurance and the Big Brother State
I’m writing this because I’m once again forced to wonder how small-government “libertarian” conservatives can actually express support for the present government. The new proposal for EI, according to the…
Institute for Research on Public Policy Compromising Political Neutrality
The Montreal-based think tank Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) has recently been in the news for publishing a study which, in the media’s collective eye, purports to disprove…
Let’s All Feel Sorry for the Tarsands Industry
On behalf of Westerners with an IQ above 85, let me just say that Tom Mulcair does not owe me an apology for stating the obvious truth that the currency…
Spending Like Drunken Cons, Part 2: Conservatives Miss Their Debt Projections Yet Again
I have only two posts planned on the 2012 budget. Unlike the professional media, I am not a trained poodle, and I will not degrade myself through weeks of high-pitched…
Sixth Estate’s prediction for the 2012 budget…
… is that there will not be one single professional journalist who asks the only question worth asking: How does this government propose to create and maintain a balanced budget…
I Am a Bread and Butter Canadian and I Want Government Out Of My Life
It’s hard to know where to begin with this article from the Hill Times, which twice alludes to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney as the “Minister for Curry in a Hurry”…
Ontario-Funded Think Tank Says Ontario Not Getting Enough Transfer Payments
Alternate title: Toronto Star Leaves Key Piece of Information Out of Coverage of Mowat Centre. The Mowat Centre, it seems, is unhappy about the state of federal-provincial transfers in this…
Globe & Mail Says Canada Needs More Indebted Seniors
There comes a point when you’ve moved past trying to stay optimistic in the face of bad news into the realm of the simply deluded — or, no better, into…
Government By Gimmick
Yesterday the Harper regime’s Minister of Graft and President of the Treasury Board, the Dishon. Tony Clement, proved that he is not only corrupt but also an incompetent buffoon: Minister…
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,…
Would-Be Foreign Influencer in the National Post: Our Incomes Can be Infinite!
I have very little to do with the Cato Institute, preferring to spend my time jousting with their intellectually subordinate Canadian cousins, the Fraser Institute. But I couldn’t help notice…