47 Search Results for fraser institute

Are Canadians paying too much in taxes?

It’s tax season and people are looking more closely at their incomes and the amount of taxes they pay. The Fraser Institute released their annual Consumer Tax Index report yesterday, claiming that the total tax bill of the average Canadian family now takes up 41.7% of their income. This seems like a big number, which… View Article

In defense of the stimulus

Mar 25, 2010
Earlier this week, the Fraser Institute published a controversial report which argued that the government stimulus did not do much for economic growth in the last two quarters of 2009, suggesting that government spending on infrastructure was useless. While their analysis suffers from serious shortcomings, which I outlined in a previous blog post here, their… View Article

The role of stimulus spending in the recovery

Mar 24, 2010
Yesterday, the Fraser Institute published a new report, which argues that the government stimulus did not drive Canadian economic growth in the last two quarters of 2009, suggesting that government spending on infrastructure was useless for the economy. The report earned the scorn of Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who called it “poorly done and it’s… View Article

Ho Ho Ho. Help!

Dec 18, 2009
Are you worried about a last minute gift for one of your progressive friends?  Me too.  So I have a proposal that might help both of us.  I am going to suggest a new book you might find interesting in the hopes that you will take advantage of the comment section at the end of… View Article

Poverty and BC’s high cost of housing

Dec 7, 2009
BC Stats put out a release on poverty lines as they relate to BC, with an important finding: BC’s dubious position as having the highest poverty rates in Canada may in fact be worse than the statistics show. This finding is buried in the piece and the title, “Low Income Cut-Offs a Poor Measure of… View Article

School ranking: public shaming with a statistical veneer

Feb 9, 2009
By printing the Fraser Institute rankings of elementary schools the Vancouver Sun gives unwarranted attention and a gloss of respectability to a cynical attempt to create anxiety among parents and educators through public shaming of students, families, educators and to place public schools in a negative light. The FI’s ranking calculation is not a legitimate… View Article

A flood of questions: As southern BC reels from epic flood, former provincial flood official says independent expert needs to investigate

Dec 1, 2021
Work at British Columbia’s River Forecast Centre is a little like trench warfare, long stretches of waiting followed by heart-racing action.  As a fresh recruit at the forecast centre, Allan Chapman’s first big action occurred only months into the job. In October 2003, an atmospheric river or “pineapple express” slammed into the southwest coast hitting… View Article

84 doctors, health experts & economists across Canada call on BC government to show national leadership with 10 days paid sick leave

Oct 21, 2021
By
As economists and health experts from across Canada, we urge the BC government to implement a robust employer-paid sick leave program that includes at least 10 paid sick days for workers. Employer-paid sick days are already a right of workers in most developed countries around the world, including a majority of OECD countries, because they… View Article

Time to end profit-making in seniors’ care

Apr 22, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on serious problems in Canada’s seniors’ care system, as nursing homes quickly became the epicenters of the outbreak. These problems are not only due to the greater vulnerability of seniors to the disease, but also to how care is organized and staffed.  In recent weeks, BC’s provincial government… View Article