Category Archive: Canadian

Apr 29 2013

New TFW rules are politics, not good policy

JoanTweet

Today, Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that the Government of Canada was tightening the rules for companies wishing to use Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) in their businesses.  I found out about this when Joan Crockett, another Calgary MP, tweeted:       Now, this isn’t the only change to the regulations. Kenney also announced: …

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Feb 06 2013

Balancing Alberta’s Books

The Province of Alberta has put out a website so Albertans can take a crack at balancing the books.  I decided to take a crack.   Now let me give you a little history.  Twenty years ago, when I was at the University of Calgary, I lived through the Ralph Klein / Jim Dinning era …

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Dec 01 2012

Conflicts of Interest

Recently, Toronto mayor Rob Ford has been ordered out of office by the courts due to his actions regarding the use of public funds City letterhead to raise money for a football team, and more importantly taking part in the council vote on whether or not he did anything wrong.  At the trial, it was pretty …

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Jun 09 2012

Mulcair and Dutch Disease

Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the Official Opposition, has in recent weeks declared his belief that the oil industry has turned the Canadian dollar into a “petrocurrency”, increasing it’s value and making manufacturers in Ontario and Quebec.    There are a number of reasons why Mr. Mulcair is completely incorrect and in my mind foolish. …

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May 15 2012

On Jobs and EI

I fully support the statements by Finance Minister Flaherty regarding the idea that there is no bad job, and that people on EI should have reduced opportunity to refuse to take jobs that are “unsuitable”. It is ridiculous for Thomas Mulcair and Peggy Nash of the NDP to argue that “skilled workers” who have education …

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Apr 23 2012

On the Alberta Election

And the pollsters are kicking themselves.  All of the polls published in the last week of the campaign showed the Wildrose party in the lead, ranging from 6-17 points.   but the PCs have scored their 12th consecutive majority government, and will reach the unparalleled target of having been in power for at least 45 years …

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Apr 19 2012

On Living Wages, a silly socialist idea

This week, Brian Pincott, one of the left-wing members of Calgary City Council (#yyccc) tweeted about an article published by his former co-alderman, Joe Ceci.   This article espoused the idea that government should legislate a “living wage”.  Let us examine a few points Mr. Ceci makes: We’d need to begin by valuing all working …

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Apr 07 2012

On Conscience Rights

The issue of “Conscience Rights” has come up in the Alberta Election campaign, and I for one think this is a very good thing.  Why?  Because it draws a distinct line between those who support individual freedom, and those who support groupthink. Only Wildrose and leader Danielle Smith have spoken out in favour of letting …

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Apr 03 2012

Stupid Proposals from Alberta Parties

OK, so the Alberta Provincial Election is a week old, and momentum has swung from the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to the upstart and conservative Wildrose Party.  The leftist parties, which comprises the Liberals, NDP and Alberta Party are trailing well behind province-wide, although they have greater support in Edmonton and Lethbridge and can probably win …

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Mar 25 2012

On Governments funding Governments

This week, while driving to work, the local radio news had quotes from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) and Alderman Brian Pincott regarding the recent decision by the Alberta Provincial Government to raise the education property tax by 7.2% on residential properties.  Now, for some background:  Calgary City Council (#yyccc) had already decided to raise …

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