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"Economic sovereignty for Prince Edward Island" by Tim Carroll Almost since Confederation, Prince Edward Island’s development strategy has been to see how much it can get out of the federal government. The experience of a number of “miracle islands” around the world shows that a better way to pursue development is to use whatever sovereignty a jurisdiction has in order to craft its own strategies for economic success. A similar strategy for Prince Edward Island need not require a change in the distribution of powers within the Canadian confederation: A number of the most successful islands are also members of federations. But it would require a change in Islanders’ attitudes—nothing less, in fact than a return to their pre-Confederation confidence and ingenuity. "Three views of Atlantic Canada": A discussion with Elizabeth Beale, Wade Locke and Brian Crowley Three people who have thought a lot about the problems of Atlantic Canada and what to do about them are Brian Crowley, President of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Elizabeth Beale, President of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council and Wade Locke, professor of economics at Memorial University. Policy Options’ editor William Watson sought their views on the region’s problems and what to do about them in a conference call in the second week of November. "We need new approaches to managing fisheries capacity in Canada" by Warren Brown, George Richard and David Balfour Canadian fisheries capacity management has traditionally focused on detailed management of fishing technology, not only to protect the resource, but to achieve social and economic objectives. But industry players have been very successful in finding ways around the fine-mesh regulation that has resulted. In future, fisheries regulators should focus mainly on conserving fish stocks. They should also stand ready to assist, but not direct, the industry in determining how the economic benefits of a sustainable fishery are shared. Though overall regulation would be lighter than in the past, conservation limits would be enforced more strictly than they have been. Twenty years of strategies for Atlantic Canada in Policy Options This year marks Policy Options’ 20th anniversary. To celebrate we are running excerpts from the archives. In this issue: policies for Atlantic Canada as they have developed over the years. With contributions by Peter Nicholson, Paul Stothart, Fred McMahon, James Bickerton, Barry Lesser, Marcel Daneau, Fabrice Rigaux, Herman Bakvis, Donald J. Savoie, David Kilgour, Richard Cashin and Wayne Hunt. "Do tax differences cause the brain drain?" by Don Wagner It is often argued that high taxes are causing Canadians to move to the United States. By examining a sample of Canadians living in Canada and another sample of Canadians living in the US, it is possible to estimate how much people in each group would have earned and been taxed had they lived in the other country. In fact, those who have the most to gain in tax-savings are the most likely to choose to live in the US, which corroborates the claim that tax differences contribute toward Canada’s brain drain. On the other hand, the responsiveness to taxation levels is quite small: Lower taxes would decrease the southward flow of people, but not by much. "Quebec signs on to The New Barbarian Manifesto" by Richard Shearmur Some of the more sensational business books of recent years have painted the picture of an emerging class of footloose, highly-skilled “symbolic analysts,” who can play the world’s different jurisdictions off against each other in their search for the highest-paid, most luxurious tax-free life they can find. Quebec’s government has been eager to accommodate them and already offers five-year tax holidays to several categories of foreign high-tech workers. This practice may eventually blow up in governments’ faces when it is found that the industries thus encouraged are not as crucial to development as is currently thought. In the meantime it is extraordinarily unfair. "Not all visible minorities face labour market discrimination" by Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson The most popular way of determining whether Canada’s visible minorities face discrimination in the labour market is simply to compare their average wages and annual earnings with those of white Canadians. This is naive in two ways: It does not distinguish among different visible minorities and it does not control for other possible differences between visible minorities and white Canadians—in education or experience, for instance. A statistical explanation of the wage gap finds that among native-born Canadians only blacks face a statistically significant wage gap once other variables are controlled for. Among immigrants, however, an unexplained wage gap is common. This suggests policy should focus less on employment or wage equity and more on helping immigrants integrate into Canadian society. "Four principles to guide research with Aboriginals" by Nathalie Piquemal Many research institutions’ ethical codes advise researchers that cross-cultural research may have to be done in a way that is especially sensitive to participants’ rights but then doesn’t spell out how this might be done. Four guiding principles for research with Aboriginals are: to establish a partnership before seeking such consent; to consult with the relevant authorities, who may be both individuals and the collective; to continually confirm consent to ensure that consent is ongoing; and to provide the participants with all the information and data that might be useful or beneficial to them, and to do so prior to completion of the final report. "Populist politics vs. Aboriginal reality in Australia ... and Canada?" by Peter Jull John Howard, the populist prime minister of Australia, has brought progress on Aboriginal relations to a standstill in that country, which is so often compared with its sister former colony, Canada. Although in many ways Australia’s Aborigines are asking for a less comprehensive settlement of their demands than Canada’s First Nations are, they are essentially being stonewalled by Mr. Howard, with the result that Aborigine-white relations are worsening. Canada should take appropriate note of the dangers of populism. |
