Most people wait until December 25th for Christmas presents. Apparently, the exception is Canadas aerospace sector, recently the recipient of an early-season gift from former federal cabinet minister David Emerson. Emerson chaired a federally-commissioned review of the aerospace sector. The resulting report ostensibly challenges companies, academic and research institutions, unions and governments to understand and adapt to changing realities.
government spending
November 25, 2012
2:00AM
When governments enter an election year, the political temptation to play fast and loose with budget numbers is strong. The most famous example of this was probably the 1996 budget in British Columbia. That year, then-B.C. Premier Glen Clarks office injected sunshine into revenue forecasts, this in order to trumpet a balanced budget on the campaign trail. His office did so over the objections of Finance Ministry officials. Post-election, once that became known, the fudge-it budget scandal permanently tarred the NDP government.
November 15, 2012
2:00AM
If there was any confidence that Albertas government would avoid imitating the failed policies of other provincesthink of Quebec and Ontario and their massive debtsthat faint hope for continued Alberta exceptionalism was kiboshed at the recent Progressive Conservative convention in Calgary.
November 15, 2012
2:00AM
While some economists take great satisfaction when their forecasts come true, I am not in that camp.
As Terence Corcoran noted on this page Wednesday (On track for more deficits), for the past several years my colleagues and I have warned that the federal government's plan to balance the budget has been based on risky projections - optimistic forecasts of revenue growth (averaging 5.6% per year) and unrealistic plans for spending restraint (average increases of just 2.0% per year).
October 26, 2012
2:00AM
Mayors and councillors across North America regularly spend taxpayer cash trying to revitalize neighbourhoods or entire cities. They often do so in expensive and ineffective ways: grand schemes that wipe away existing neighbourhoods or street markets, only to be replaced with massive convention centres (mostly unused by locals) or costly new arenas for professional sports teams.
September 29, 2012
2:00AM
For those who might have missed whats happening in the city where Wayne Gretzky first made his mark in professional hockey, another round of taxpayer subsidies might soon be delivered to for-profit professional hockey in Edmonton.
The background: In 2011, Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz convinced city council to deliver up taxpayer cash for a new $450 million arena.
More recently, Katz demanded more tax dollars and then visited Seattle to drop hints that he may move the Oilers to that west coast city if Edmonton City Council doesnt agree to his latest request.
September 11, 2012
2:00AM
The well-known quip - The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - is often attributed to Albert Einstein or Mark Twain. Accurate attribution has never been confirmed.
September 8, 2012
2:00AM
As many students enrolled in algebra class are likely discovering, numbers can be rather dry. But a proper understanding of them is indispensable to modern life. Without hard, reliable numbers regularly checked, much personal, business, and government planning would be akin to gambling: throw the dice, risk the cash and hope for the best.
I digress on the importance of numbers because as arid as they are, its always curious when governments go to great efforts to avoid discussing them.
August 25, 2012
2:00AM
The one-year anniversary of Jack Laytons passing has inspired numerous memorials and tributes, making it clear the late federal NDP leader inspired affection.
But given the public fondness for Layton, its important to parse his proposed ideas, precisely because plenty of people still advocate similar policy.
However, good intentions (and Layton had that in spades) do not necessarily lead to good outcomes. They are never enough to create a country with peace, prosperity, order and good government.