Policy Papers

E-Learning in K-12 Schools The Prospects for Disruptive Innovation A report by Paul W. Bennett E-Learning in K-12 Schools examines how Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador lost the e-learning initiative, why centralized top-down “21st century learning” visions run aground, and how school system constraints – common to bricks-and-mortar schooling [...]

This tax report is authored by Mark Milke, PhD. He analyzes the differences in major tax rates between Atlantic Canada and its nearest regional competitor — the New England states — for investment, jobs, and tax revenues. In general, these six U.S. states have a significant tax advantage on most measurements. As a "road map" [...]

The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) today released a report on the potential for Atlantic Canada to capitalize on the golden age of gas. The report, authored by Andrew Pickford, examines the overall regulatory framework, planned infrastructure projects, and emerging natural gas opportunities and technologies. View the entire study here.

In his report, Atlantic Canada and the U.S. Electricity Market: Projects and Perspectives, commissioned by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), Gordon L. Weil provides a catalog of current proposals for new transmission links between Atlantic Canada and New England.

In her report, The Road Ahead: Options for Reforming Registry Service Delivery, commissioned by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), Meredith McDonald analyses provincial experiences with registry services in Canada.

In his report, Checking the Math on Childcare, commissioned by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), Ian Munro cautions Canadians about promises for a federal childcare program.

Co-authored by Senior Fellow, Robert Roach, Research Associate, Jeff Collins, and AIMS President and CEO, Marco Navarro-Genie, the paper – A Good Problem to Have: Lessons for Atlantic Canada from Alberta’s Experience with Natural Resource Revenue – calls for stability in Atlantic Canada’s strategy to transform non-renewable resources into a permanent financial asset.

AIMS author Dr. Paul Bennett discusses adopting the Nova Scotia Tuition Support Program (TSP) throughout Atlantic Canada and provides a New Brunswick example of Riverbend Community School in Moncton. Bennett examines how the TSP has been implemented since 2004, and provides eight recommendations for Atlantic Canada.

Ian Munro, an independent public policy analyst born on Prince Edward Island (PEI), argues in this paper that PEI's efforts to bolster tourism on the Island using the golf industry have largely failed. He insists that the government made “tactical errors” and that it “relied on simplistic projections, while failing to consider risks and alternative scenarios.”

Paul Bennett of Schoolhouse Consulting and Derek Gillis, an independent research consultant, argue that public transportation costs are too high in the Atlantic region and outline the many ways in which provincial governments can reduce them.