NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair doesn't think Mark Carney was talking to him when the Bank of Canada governor publicly denied that a booming oil industry hurts Canada by driving up the dollar, depressing manufacturing exports and hollowing out our economy. Mulcair should listen anyway because, unlike most political chatter, Carney's critique of the "Dutch disease" theory is thoughtful and well-informed. Click here to read the rest.
At the Democratic National Convention, U.S. President Obama claimed America's in "one of the worst economic crises in history" then called for "the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one." But his self-serving invocation of FDR is as unconvincing as his self-serving portrayal of the current crisis. Click here to read the rest.
For a person who hates politics, I sure can’t get enough of it. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, call your office. But my excuse for staring obsessively at things like the Republican National Convention is that government is important especially when it’s done badly. And right now its general air of dreary malevolence is a big part of the problem. Click here to read the rest.
Equalization makes us poorer, encourages bad policy and fosters bitterness. Unfortunately we can't just take it out behind the barn and kill it with an axe. It's wedged into the Constitution and besides, its original purpose of protecting Canadians against the possibility of a provincial government collapsing financially is not unworthy. But we could certainly make it less costly, harmful and unfair. Click here to read the rest.
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.