Satirist P.J. O'Rourke says, "Beyond a certain point complexity is fraud ... when someone creates a system in which you can't tell whether or not you're being fooled, you're being fooled." So take Canada's multi-billion-dollar equalization program ... please. It's so complicated even experts have trouble with it, and regular citizens are excluded completely. Click here to read the rest.
Equalization doesn't just reward failure. It encourages it. Seven Canadian provinces were chronic recipients of the program from the very beginning and all have been economic and financial underperformers that bleed ambitious young people to more dynamic parts of the country. Newfoundland and Saskatchewan are no longer recipients of equalization and are struggling to reverse economic and demographic decline, but Quebec, Manitoba and the other three Atlantic provinces are still stuck in it. Click here to read the rest.
In Canada's fiscal Olympics, large equalization payments constitute the brass, tin and lead medals. They recognize and reward persistent policy failure lasting decades. Quebec, most of the Atlantic provinces and Manitoba now find themselves fighting Ontario for ownership of the podium.
So how about that high-flying health expert who whacked Alberta taxpayers for $487,000 a year in salary plus $346,000 in expenses in 3½ years at the Capital Health agency, then bonged eHealth in Ontario for over $75,000 a month as a consultant before getting hired as chief financial officer with Alberta Health Services? The Olympic magnitude of it inspires a certain awe. Click here to read more.
Even for a desperate politician, B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s attack on the Northern Gateway pipeline was exceptionally mean and stupid. It’s no accident Canadian provinces are not allowed to behave like highwaymen. But it is astounding that Clark doesn’t know it. Click here to read the rest.
Would you let Nazis buy Canadian oil fields? Or Stalinists? Well then, how about Mao’s bloodthirsty heirs? Click here to read the rest.
Here’s my solution to gun violence: A law against bullets travelling through air. Now right-thinking persons are liable to object that bullets don’t obey laws. OK, then, why do those same right-thinking persons want a ban on handguns even though criminals don’t obey laws?
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May wants the government to say how happy we are. I'll pass. But her private member's Bill C-436 - the Canada Genuine Progress Measurement Act - is at least an interesting mistake, more than a lot of politicians ever manage. Click here to read the rest.