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February 22, 2014 2:00AM

Don't let mythical thinking on taxes mess up Alberta
Mark Milke
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As Albertans approach another provincial budget, the usual fables about Alberta's finances often crop up. To inoculate ourselves in advance, let's ponder two myths.

Myth Number One: Alberta's wealth is a result of luck.

This tall tale assumes that the existence of natural resources automatically results in wealth creation, jobs, and a higher standard of living. That's hardly the case. Plenty of jurisdictions have little in the way of natural resources but prosper, while others have plentiful natural resources yet flounder.

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alberta budget, alberta, government spending, albertas finances, economy, natural resources, taxes, taxation, income tax, program spending
February 19, 2014 2:00AM

BC's boring, balanced budget anything but
Niels Veldhuis, Sean Speer
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Tuesday’s BC budget, which Finance Minister Michael de Jong called boring, balanced, should have set out an ambitious agenda for the next four years.

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bc budget, bc government, debt, deficiti, program spending, LNG industry, balanced budget, 2014 bc budget, taxes, tax competitiveness
February 17, 2014 2:00AM

Chrysler bellies back up to the corporate welfare trough
Mark Milke
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Back in late 2011 after the Occupy Wall Street protests, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne gave a speech in Toronto to decry what he called "the most inane displays of greed." The reference was to behaviour he had observed while serving on various company boards over the years.

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corporate welfare, Chrysler, automotive sector, Sergio Marchionne, Bombardier, corporate subsidies, business subsidies, government spending, program spending, industrial policy
February 7, 2014 2:00AM

Pro-markets not pro-business: There's a difference
Sean Speer, Charles Lammam
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The federal government recently poured $36.3 million into the Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund the first of many soon-to-come government-sponsored funds comprising Ottawa's $400 million Venture Capital Action Plan. The plan, conceived with the view that Canada's lacklustre venture capital industry requires a government solution, ignores Canadian evidence that shows government-sponsored venture capital is ineffective. More fundamentally though, it represents a further blurring of the lines between pro-market and pro-business government policy.

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northleaf venture catalyst fund, venture capital action plan, government spending, program spending, business subsidies, government sponsored venture capital, corporate welfare, department of industry
February 6, 2014 2:00AM

Post-Stimulus Spending Trends in Canada
Sean Speer, Joel Emes
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post-stimulus spending trends, stimulus spending, government spending, stimulus plan, program spending, canadian government, alberta, british columbia
January 30, 2014 2:00AM

Islanders Should Take Less and Contribute More
David MacKinnon
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Souris Mayor Dave MacDonald recently told the Premier's Council on EI that recent changes to the federal EI program are killing his town.

Unfortunately, Mr. MacDonald did not note that Islanders receive three times as much as they contribute to the EI program. This was a subsidy in 2010 of about $150 million from citizens living elsewhere to people living on PEI.

Tags:
equalization, unseen equalization, transfer payments, government subsidies, program spending, government spending, subsidies
December 20, 2013 2:00AM

Ontario, the Diffident Enabler, Needs to Change
David MacKinnon
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For many years, Ontario has been the quiet enabler for the vast system of subsidies the federal government provides to Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Manitoba. With rare exceptions, it has stood by as equalization grew and as the federal government incorporated subsidies to regions in more and more of its regular programming.

In recent years, evidence has been accumulating that the regional subsidy system is much bigger than it appears on the surface, unsustainable for both Alberta and Ontario and entirely counterproductive because it discourages growth in all recipient provinces.

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equalization, government spending, program spending, government subsidies, subsidies, ontario, alberta, regional subsidies, quebec
November 25, 2013 2:00AM

Unseen Equalization: Provincial Subsidies in Federal Programs
David MacKinnon, Jane Loyer, Frazier Fathers, Milagros Palacios
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equalization, provincial subsidies, government spending, program spending, employment insurance, cultural programs, immigration settlement, federal employment, economic development agencies, airport ground rental arrangements
November 21, 2013 2:00AM

Senate expense scandals just one small example of government's failure to manage our money
Charles Lammam, Hugh MacIntyre
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Allegations of expense scandals in the Senate have shocked many Canadians and rightfully so. Although unsettling, such antics are not an isolated case; they are part of a larger institutional problem with government.

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federal government, government spending, program spending, auditor general reports, auditor general, federal government failure, senate scandal, canadian coast guard, national defence, social insurance numbers
November 14, 2013 2:00AM

Too early to declare the deficit slain(2)
Sean Speer, Charles Lammam
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After federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled his latest financial plan Tuesday, much of the media hype centred on the government's larger than expected surplus in 2015-16. Early chatter seemed to accept the government will deliver as promised and some declared its "conservative assumptions" might allow for the deficit to be eliminated even earlier.

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federal government, government spending, fiscal update, canada, governement debt, deficit, federal budget, program spending