AIMS Makes A Difference In Atlantic Canada

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Law, strikes and the public interest

By | July 4th, 2001|In the Media|

The Nova Scotia government's decision to forestall by legislation strikes in the health care sector and to impose a settlement on their workers raises the thorny question whether public sector workers in essential services should be allowed to use the strike weapon. In his regular column, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley says that, while there are arguments on both sides, on balance the public interest is better protected by a no-strike rule. But that doesn't mean that governments should be able to do just whatever they please -- if workers lose the right to strike, the government must also give up the right to impose wage settlements unilaterally.

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Is geography destiny for Atlantica?

By | July 4th, 2001|In the Media|

A wedge of territory, which some are now calling Atlantica, has been outside the charmed circle of North American prosperity for years but now faces the end of an economic era and the opportunity to seize control again. This corner of North America encompasses not only Atlantic Canada but also embraces the sliver of the United States that reaches from Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont and into northern New York State. AIMS President, Brian Lee Crowley, suggests that continental free trade and globalization may put an end to the isolation of Atlantica. The east west axis for development of North America is being supplemented by a drive to stitch back together the old north-south trade routes that had flourished across the continent before 1867. If Atlantica is to escape the role of geographic backwater to which the last century relegated us, a new cross-border coalition must be built. Many American politicians, including both New York senators, have endorsed a call for Washington

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AIMS and Labour Mobility

By | June 30th, 2001|In the Media|

AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley recently addressed the newly formed Laissez-Faire Society in Calgary and discussed several of the artificial barriers to economic growth in Atlantic Canada and Canada as a whole. One of his themes, the need to reform EI, is picked up in this column by Nigel Hanneford as he discusses the need to eliminate the barriers to work in Canada. Hanneford argues that leaving EI as it is and failing to eliminate provincial labour mobility barriers will result in a sad state of affairs where it will be easier for a foreign tradesperson or professional to work in Alberta, than somebody from Nova Scotia.

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Equalization and natural resources: Bill Watson on AIMS’ paper

By | June 30th, 2001|In the Media|

William Watson has taken a thoughtful look at a recent AIMS paper on equalization and offers his positive comments in a National Post column. In addition to being a regular columnist at the Post, Watson is the editor of Policy Options, the magazine of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, and a professor of economics at McGill University. In his article, Watson explores each of Boessenkool's arguments in favour of excluding nonrenewable natural resource revenues from the equalization formula. Watson is the latest in a series of national writers to enter the debate that has been sparked by "Taking off the Shackles: Equalization and the Development of Nonrenewable Resources in Atlantic Canada", by Ken Boessenkool.

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AIMS-inspired national debate on equalization goes on-line

By | June 27th, 2001|In the Media|

In his latest column for Canoe Money, an on-line media outlet, economist and author Tim Whitehead expresses high praise for "Equalization: Milestone or Millstone?", by Roland Martin, former AIMS Fellow in Public Finance. Whitehead refers to the equalization clawback as a "tax on success" and comments positively on the recommendations to improve the formula that have been put forward by Martin. Whitehead's piece adds to the growing national debate that has been inspired by the release of the first two papers in AIMS new series on equalization: "Equalization: Milestone or Millstone?" and "Taking off the Shackles: Equalization and the Development of Nonrenewable Resources in Atlantic Canada" by Ken Boessenkool.

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Calgary Herald endorses AIMS equalization paper

By | June 21st, 2001|In the Media|

In endorsing the conclusions of a recent AIMS paper on equalization, a Calgary Herald editorial stated that Albertans know intuitively that "windfall" oil revenues should be used to retire debt, shore up savings or spent on one-time projects, not for regular program spending. In Taking off the Shackles: Equalization and the Development of Nonrenewable Resourses in Atlantic Canada, Ken Boessenkool argued that royalties should not be considered part of a regular income stream and should be excluded from the equalization formula. The Calgary Herald has agreed. It states: "…the transfer calculations should be made on the long-term, stable sources of provincial revenue - such as corporate profits, personal income and sales taxes - not volatile royalty revenues. "

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Health care system needs Swedish massage

By | June 20th, 2001|In the Media|

Swedish nurses, doctors, unions and industry all agree that the increase in independent health care organizations offers Sweden very large gains over the public monopoly model. According to AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley, this Swedish massage is just what the doctor ordered for Canada’s ailing health care system. Publication: CHH, June 20, 2001

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The cruel hand of equalization

By | May 31st, 2001|In the Media|

The time has never been better for the Atlantic provinces to lessen their dependence on federal transfers and to become masters of their own fate. Energy prices are high, shortages are emerging in Canada's major U.S. markets, and the Prime Minister has responded favourably to U.S. requests to speed up the development of new energy supplies. Yet, on average, about 40% of provincial budgets in the four Atlantic provinces still come from federal transfers, most in the form of equalization. AIMS President Brian Crowley and AIMS author Ken Boessenkool outline a straightforward solution to this dilemma in this op-ed piece published in The National Post. Removing nonrenewable natural resources from the equalization formula would provide the Atlantic provinces with the incentive to rely on natural resources development as a centrepiece of their economic strategy in place of pleading for larger transfers from equalization. Gone would be the days when an Atlantic province might forfeit a nickel

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AIMS major generator of new policy thinking: Michael Bliss

By | May 29th, 2001|In the Media|

Michael Bliss, a distinguished Canadian historian and policy thinker recently expressed his concern that the absence of strong party competition at the federal level means that political parties are not generating the renewal in policy thinking Canada needs. One of the alternative sources of fresh thinking that he sees filling that vacuum is a handful of national public policy institutes, including AIMS. Bliss says that these think-tanks are among the very few groups capable of generating the energy Canada needs to renew itself politically. Fortunately, people with new political ideas have not stopped thinking and writing, they have simply turned to think-tanks as they have turned away from partisan politics or government service.

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Lines between political left and right overlapping

By | May 23rd, 2001|In the Media|

In a world in which a Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is one of the strongest defenders of the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, what is the meaning of 'Left' and 'Right' in politics today? According to AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley, the victory of 'Blatcherism' shows that a new equilibrium has been reached in the political mainstream, and the old political divide is being fundamentally redefined. Publication: CHH, May 23, 2001

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