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"A country built by public policy" by the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson [summary not available] "The NDP after Alexa: Pursue the Green Cohort" by Michael Valpy The New Democratic Party should be but isn’t yet the natural home to an emerging political constituency—call it the “Green Cohort”—of young, well-educated Canadians who are not ideologically opposed to the market or to globalization but want to see both regulated so as to protect the environment and deliver a high quality of life at home and around the world. Like most Canadians, the Green Cohort wants health care and education to stay in the public sector, but it is open to almost any changes that will make these public services work better. If the party wants to attract this growing constituency it will have to change in many ways, beginning with its name. "Les élections partielles du 17 juin 2002 au Québec : Un immense bouleversement" by Maurice Pinard [summary not available] "Medical savings accounts: Not the right prescription" by Jeremiah Hurley In some policy circles, medical savings accounts (MSAs) have become an increasingly popular proposal for solving the problems of Canadian Medicare. They are supposed to reduce the demand for health services, increase the efficiency of providers and lower public costs, all without seriously reducing the fairness of the current system. But several simple examples show that under plausible scenarios the integration of MSAs into Canada’s system of health-care financing could lead to higher public costs, reduced efficiency, reduced equity and compromised access for many Canadians. This is particularly the case if MSAs are voluntary and catastrophic coverage is provided by private insurers. "A Canada-E.U. FTA is an awful idea" by William A. Dymond and Michael A. Hart The idea that Canada and the European Union should form a free-trade area continues to be pushed in Canadian policy circles. An FTA with Europe would be a bad idea. Both geography and history make the United States Canada’s most important economic partner. The E.U., by contrast, is little interested in preferential access to the Canadian market, which means Canada would likely have to modify its commercial law and practices whenever they conflicted with European custom. This would put at risk our relations with the United States, which would account for 85 per cent of our trade going into such an agreement. It is hard to understand why we would wish to do that. "The Post modern: It's time for serious postal reform" by Robert M. Campbell Technological, international and ideological changes have altered the range of postal policy possibilities in the 21st century. Prodded by deregulation and liberalization, many Posts have developed an international reach, taking over private-sector companies and entering into alliances with former competitors. These changes unfolded within the neo-conservative agenda, which insisted on them. But a national postal system remains important for both economic and social reasons. It can be a source of competitiveness, as well as a large employer and the provider of a universal public service. The Canadian postal regime contains a mix of elements, but remains firmly within a “political” as opposed to “market” or “economic policy” mode. This threatens both its own future viability and the strength of Canada’s communications infrastructure. "Canada needs a new forest tenure system" by K. A. Armson Allocation of timber on provincial Crown lands to forest companies has its roots in legislation that is 150 years old. Over time amendments have been made but if the Canadian forest industry is to successfully compete in the global marketplace and continue to be the prime contributor to Canada’s balance of trade, a new approach is required. We should divest the responsibility for forest management from mills, whether sawmills or pulp and paper mills, and new companies should be assigned to manage specific areas primarily either for timber or non-timber values. In either instance, however, the arrangements would involve placing the forest products on the open marketplace. "Look who's addicted to gambling now" by Thomas R. Klassen and Jim Cosgrave State-run gambling looks like the taxpayer’s dream: taxes can be cut without public expenditures being cut. In fact, the nationalization of Canada’s gambling industry over the last three decades has led to an increase, not a reduction, in the state’s role in society. Not only do provinces and municipalities set up Crown corporations to run the gambling business, they also establish agencies both to help distribute the funds to worthy community causes and to provide counseling and other assistance to compulsive gamblers. It is time to reconsider the wisdom of this policy strategy. "CBC Television News has a bias problem" by Conrad Winn [summary not available] "Why we shouldn't entrench property rights" by Rainer Knopff As the founders of modern liberalism understood well, property rights are fundamental to liberty and are implied by the defining characteristics of human beings. It does not follow, however, that they should be enshrined in political constitutions. James Madison, for one, believed that the ultimate protection of such rights lay in a diverse polity and a political system of checks and balances. In the modern era, judges have been fickle friends of property rights and are nowadays especially unlikely to reliably protect these rights. If the political will did exist that would allow property rights to be entrenched, it would be better to use it for legislative ends. "Green or greedy? Canada's Kyoto credits" by Jeff Colgan As part of the end-game in the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, Canada is asking for a credit against its “cleaner energy exports.” Canada argues that raising the price of Canadian natural gas exports so as to reflect the cost of greenhouse gas emissions will cause U.S. electricity producers to switch to dirtier coal. Without an offsetting credit there will be a net increase in emissions. The trouble with this argument is that by any reasonable calculation, the credit Canada is demanding is much too large. European governments are therefore justified in their view that Canada’s insistence on credits is mainly a way of allowing it to avoid its Kyoto commitments. The good news is that Kyoto’s impact on the Canadian natural gas industry is not likely to be large. "Inherited power makes a comeback" by Louis A. Delvoie [summary not available] "Memo to Mr. Chrétien: Stick with the Americans" by Tom Velk and Todd Fox [summary not available] Book review: Neil Cameron reviews Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges by Robert Bork [summary not available] |
