Quebec is far from Ireland’s path
Fred McMahon, author of AIMS' book Road to Growth, has responded to Quebec Finance Minister Bernard Landry's claim that Quebec is now following Ireland's lead in economic and budgetary policy.
Don’t pump regulation: Luckily, the finance minister quashed city hall’s idea to bring back price regulation
“…[M]anagement guru Peter Drucker once wrote that government regulation of business and industry was one of the most original inventions of western liberal democracy But, like penicillin, regulation has been so widely used, and abused, that its potency has sharply declined.”
Crippling conflicts
The "Big Questions" for any public inquiry into the Walkerton tragedy will be: 1. How did Walkerton's water get contaminated? 2. Once contaminated, could the tragedy have been avoided by either the Ontario government or Walkerton's water utility? 3. How can future disasters like this be averted? As these questions are answered, people should realize that governments which both own and regulate public utilities have a fatal conflict of interest.
Alberta’s health experiment could provide valuable answers
Is it right to say that Premier Ralph Klein's proposals to allow overnight stays in private medical clinics in Alberta constitutes a fundamental challenge to medicare? AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley argues that, on the contrary, it is no more than a timid extension of some already widely-accepted principles of this country's health care system. Publication: CHH & TJSJ & SJT, March 15, 2000.
United We Fall
In this column for The Globe and Mail, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley argues that Atlantic Canada's chief problem is not too many governments, but rather too much government, a very different proposition. The solution? Stronger rules on internal trade to restrain provincial governments from indulging in foolish and parochial policies at the expense of the economic rights of all Canadians, including Atlantic Canadians.
The Halifax Harbour Clean-Up: The Case for Partnership with the Private Sector
AIMS presentation to HRM Council on Harbour Cleanup, March 7, 2000