Frontier Centre

The Frontier Centre has released its 7th annual Local Government Performance Index. It measures 100 Canadian cities on their financial performance and overall transparency. Measuring almost 30,000 individual data points, the Index is designed to shed light on how Canada’s largest municipalities are performing in comparison to others across the country. This year Edmonton was ranked as the most transparent city in the country, along with Markham and Mississauga. Calgary, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat tied for 9th place, and Regina was 14th. Saskatoon and Kitchener are the most improved cities this year, both finishing together in the 22nd position, while the city of Winnipeg placed 47th out of 100. The Index presents absolute, per capita and per household figures for property taxes, debt levels, and total spending. After placing 5th last year, Toronto dropped down to 22nd place, despite getting the exact same score as last year. Average scores are improving across the country, meaning that cities need to impro

Peter McCaffrey interviewed on 630 CHED Edmonton about the 7th Annual LGPI by Frontier Centre

Many air travelers are understandably annoyed when they get bumped from a flight because the airline has overbooked. But it has become a necessary way of life, and it actually reduces the cost of flying for everyone. Air Canada and other airlines offer refundable tickets. This gives passengers the freedom to change their tickets and almost 10% of them never show up for their flights. The airlines use ingenious software to help predict who the no-shows will be and where they will be flying. Business passengers are the number one no-shows, while people on holiday will almost always show up at the gate. Other common no-shows are people who over-sleep, or can’t get to the airport because of poor weather. Costs are high and profit margins are very slim in the airline business. Air Canada pays out a billion dollars a year in airport and navigation fees alone. Overbooking has proven to be an effective way of maximizing revenue and staying competitive. And by no means does everyone complain about overbooking. Fo

Anyone in Canada who wants to be a teacher must obtain a teaching certificate. Nowadays most teachers must complete a Bachelor of Education degree from an accredited university or teachers college. Increasingly, those schools that train teachers are getting poor marks from their own students and are held in low regard by other faculties on the same campus. Instead of spending their time learning effective ways of teaching and learning, schools tend to focus on so-called progressive processes of learning. The emphasis is on facilitating experiences, rather than providing basic knowledge. A research associate from the Frontier Centre recently took part in a graduate level course on education foundations. The professor allowed students to write poems and draw pictures to complete their assignments. She also said they were free to suggest their own grade in the course. Provincial departments of Education should explore alternative options to certify teachers. Competition would encourage education faculties t

The majority of the world’s population now live in cities. People leave poor rural areas hoping for a better life with more economic possibilities in urban areas. The most successful cities are able to handle population growth and naturally expand their physical size. Now, city planners are concerned about problems related to urban sprawl. Some argue that cities should grow ‘upward’ rather than ‘outward’ – a policy known as Densification. It tries to establish urban boundaries and replace private vehicles with mass transit, as well walking and cycling. However, Densification has difficulties of its own, such as greater traffic congestion and poor air quality. Transit can play a crucial role in moving people downtown, but it cannot effectively compete with the automobile in a city that is already spread out. Densification is also a major factor in higher house prices. Families with better incomes end up buying cheaper or smaller houses that could have otherwise gone to a low-income family, who m

Newfoundland's Finance Minister has suddenly resigned. He disagreed with the Premier's risky and increasingly expensive quest to have a Crown Corporation, Nalcor, build and transmit power from Muskrat Falls, Labrador, to export to the eastern seaboard states. Ontario wasted 1.2-billion dollars by supporting, then cancelling, two generating stations. Before that, the province offered contracts to solar power operators at a price six times the average Ontario rate, right before the cost of solar panels collapsed. This in a province where consumers are paying off 20-billion dollars of losses on nuclear plants and power contracts. Now Manitoba's government is flirting with financial disaster with its 34-billion dollar hydro dam building plan. Construction cost estimates have more than doubled, while cheap shale gas in the U.S. has collapsed the power prices Manitoba Hydro can expect to receive. Knowledgeable critics have warned consumers that their rates could end up tripling if the plan is fully im

New school trustees were elected in Alberta recently, and several of them have identified class size as a major public concern. But they and their colleagues in Manitoba and Saskatchewan should be looking at the larger picture. If school boards would focus on how to direct funds appropriately, the issue of class size would take care of itself. All across the region, resources are flowing into schools that are now half-empty. If funding followed each student directly, higher enrolments would automatically mean larger budgets, and lower enrolments would mean lower budgets. Classrooms with 40 kids or more would not exist if schools had a budget directly tied to the number of students. Such a funding model would also mean that parents could send their children to any type of school they wish without having to pay extra for the best possible education. Right now, some parents are paying private school fees as well as property taxes to support public schools that their kids don’t attend. Rethinking t

Environmental extremists like the public to believe that the debate over the oil sands is a choice between economic rewards or a healthy environment. But Canada and Alberta can have both. The oil sands are being developed in a responsible way. Only three percent of the surface area is minable, and only a fraction of that is being dug up. The land is restored after mining operations are finished. Steam-assisted gravity drainage is used whenever possible, with a relatively small environmental impact because it involves no mining at all. Activists say the oil sands are a major contributor to climate change. The truth is, Canada only generates about 2 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases, and less than 8 percent of that comes from the oil sands. The public is told that oil-sands operations require huge amounts of fresh water. The truth is, the city of Toronto consumes more than twice as much water, and up to 95 percent of the water used by the oil sands is recycled. The oil sands employ

A rural Manitoba woman was recently fined $10 for sending her two kids to daycare with a lunch that was deemed nutritionally unbalanced according to Canada’s Food Guide. The meal included roast beef, potatoes, carrots, an orange and milk. To comply with provincial rules, the daycare added Ritz crackers because a grain product was missing. The Food Guide recommends that Canadians eat specific amounts of vegetables and fruits; grain; milk products; and meat. There are some obvious problems with the Guide. It fails to recognize similarities across food groups, and the vast difference between different foods within the groups. One might substitute a grain with fruit, since fruits can contain as least as much dietary fiber as many grain products. On the other hand, rye bread is more nutritious than white bread, and spinach is more vitamin-rich than iceberg lettuce. Nutritional needs can also vary dramatically from one person to another because people have different body types. We have a responsibility t

For too long, Canadians have watched as governments have entered into bad and costly labour agreements with public sector employees. Now that the politicians can no longer afford these expensive contracts, the rights of public sector workers are being altered without appropriate justification. The Government of Alberta recently introduced Bills 45 and 46, which would limit the right to strike in the public sector and allow the government to impose contracts unilaterally. In Ontario last year, the government passed the ‘Putting Students First Act’. It imposed contracts on teachers and others in education, despite massive opposition. Ottawa is proposing drastic changes to the rights of federal workers in Bill C-4. Under this legislation, the government will be able to unilaterally expand the definition of the essential service and restrict rights to bargain collectively. Nobody likes to be inconvenienced by strikes or protests, but these are fundamental rights provided to workers under the Charter and var

Many Canadian parents reject home-schooling as a viable option for their children because they don’t want them to be socially awkward. But nothing inherent about home-schooling points to that as a likely result. Home-schooled children have contact with neighbours, in extracurricular activities, and with children of co-workers and other home-schoolers. Some people assume that parents who home-school their kids want to instill specific religious beliefs, but there are many different motivations for homeschooling. Some dislike the values that are promoted in schools, others have high academic standards and little faith in the public school curriculum. Often, parents want to focus on a particular strength or weakness in a child in a way that a teacher with responsibility for a whole class cannot. Athletes and musicians often prefer home-schooling so they have more time for training. Homeschooled children can often accomplish a lot more in a shorter period of time because they are not spending hours riding

Environmentalists frequently raise alarms about fracking, and Canadians should be given more information about the process. There are naturally-occurring fractures, but often rock formations are too impermeable to allow oil and gas to be extracted. A fracking fluid is pumped into the formation, causing cracks to form. The resulting fractures allow oil and gas to flow into the well. Some people are worried that frac fluids could contaminate groundwater. The danger is avoided when drill wells are properly cased as they penetrate aquifers to reach the rocks below. The fractures are deeper than the aquifers, and the thick mass of rock in between prevents undesirable fluids from seeping into the water. Over millions of years, some gas can naturally seep through rock mass to reach water, but fracking has nothing to do with it. Some people are worried that fracking causes earthquakes. Earth tremors do occur in drilling operations, but most often they are too small to be felt. Precision instruments ar

There is renewed discussion in Alberta about building a high-speed rail link between Calgary and Edmonton. The idea has been around in one form or another for more than 30 years, but experience elsewhere in the world suggests that a high-speed train on the Canadian prairies simply would not be economically viable. Right now only two high-speed rail lines are profitable: the Tokyo-Osaka corridor in Japan and the Paris-Lyon bullet train in France. Both areas are much more densely populated than the corridor in Alberta. Even if there were more potential riders, a high-speed train cannot compete with the alternative of driving in a private vehicle along that route. Most people will find it cheaper and more convenient to drive or carpool than pay for a train ticket, especially when you consider that they would still need to rent a car or take a taxi to their final destination. Environmental considerations are not a significant plus. High-speed trains take more energy than conventional trains, planes or motor veh

All across Canada, but particularly on the prairies, builders complain about shortages of skilled trades people, but there’s a vast pool of unrealized potential among First Nations youth. Native reserves have a booming young population, and chronically high rates of unemployment. Governments and the private sector often turn to immigration to fill such needs, but the answer could be right in our own backyard. Obsolete regulations are one of the roadblocks that prevent this from happening. Provinces regulate the number of apprentices that can be hired based on the number of existing journeypersons who are ticketed to work in the various trades. These ratios require many companies to lay off apprentices or to leave positions vacant in many cases, for reasons that don’t make much sense. Most provinces are moving to ease these restrictions, and governments should focus on things like safety standards instead of regulating the rate of entry. Education requirements are also a problem. Most trades req

The Idle No More protests were in reaction to Ottawa’s agenda when it comes to Aboriginal policy. But there are a number of initiatives that First Nations can voluntarily opt into and benefit from. The First Nations Land Management Act is federal legislation that allows bands to control their own land and resources. In a similar vein, bands can be certified by the First Nations Financial Management Board. It allows them to borrow millions of dollars at preferential rates. First Nations can also be certified under the ISO 9001 program, an internationally recognized standard that makes communities more attractive to outside investors and businesses. The Membertou First Nation in Sydney Nova Scotia is a good example of a band that has benefited from this. Unfortunately, many First Nations are not even aware of some of these voluntary initiatives. The bands that have followed such a path can now boast that the majority of their revenues come from their own initiatives, rather than relying on federal

More and more Canadians are prepared to pay a premium to buy food that is certified-organic. They believe in good faith that an objective process ensures that the food is authentic. They might be surprised to learn that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows any producer to use their organic labels as long as fees are paid and the paperwork is done. The government does not require actual testing to ensure that the food is free of things like pesticide or growth hormones. It was a similar story in the United States, but soon there will finally be random testing there to ensure that organic products are genuine and safe. The American Consumers Union once performed random tests and discovered that one-quarter of organic food contained prohibited substances. They urged the U S Department of Agriculture to introduce testing into the American organic program. In Canada, the Food Inspection Agency ran tests in secret and discovered that almost half of the samples contained prohibited pesticides. But they

Personal income has increased more in Saskatchewan than in any other province over the past five years, and it has put tremendous upward pressure on the cost of housing. The number of households in Regina and Saskatoon that qualify for a mortgage has dropped by 20%.

Ottawa has introduced Bill C-9, the First Nations Elections Act. It comes in response to concerns expressed by First Nations in Manitoba and Atlantic Canada about rules governing the election of chiefs and band councils. Among other things C-9 will allow First Nations to establish fixed election dates. It also cleans up the nominations process for chief and council, and provides for penalties for those who break the rules. The legislation extends the term for chiefs and councilors from two years to four. This is seen as a positive move, enabling bands to better engage in long-term planning, especially when it comes to economic development. With a two-year term, many councilors are perpetually worried about re-election. These are some of the concerns identified by individual band members in the Aboriginal Governance Index which is put together each year by the Frontier Centre. Elections are an important component of the survey. Bands who work to ensure fair and open elections are often the ones

The Canada-Europe Free Trade Agreement is a major milestone for the country. The potential impact will be hugely positive, especially for prairie agriculture. Among the greatest beneficiaries would be cattle ranchers in several provinces. Increased duty-free access to European markets could mean as much an additional $600 million a year in revenue. Similar gains are likely in canola, with a potential doubling of exports from 90 million dollars to 180 million dollars a year. Prairie wheat producers have traditionally focused on high-quality grain for the European market, but the removal of a tariff on low protein product will mean a greater opportunity for all farmers. Barley growers should also experience a boon. Not only will exports of malting increase, but even greater gains may be derived through feed sales to livestock producers. Canadian dairy producers who have long enjoyed the protection of supply management are upset about the increase in Europe’s cheese quota, and they are anxious to protect

Activists are continuing to work hard in an effort to block the construction of major oil pipelines like the proposed Northern Gateway project. As a result, oil companies have turned to alternatives, like moving crude by rail. But the tragedy at Lac Megantic, Quebec strongly suggests that such alternatives pose greater dangers to people and to the environment. Terrible spills have occurred in the past when oil moves across water by tanker. With fewer pipelines transporting Canadian oil across the country, we need to import more oil from overseas. Pipelines involve a much lower risk of spills and derailments. They can be routed away from populated areas. Modern pipelines also have leak-detection systems that will shut them down automatically if a rupture occurs. Shipping oil by rail, truck or tanker can also mean the release of more exhaust and pollutants into the atmosphere. Fuel is essential to heat our homes on the prairies. It also allows us to safely and quickly travel long distances, and it sust