Informações:
Sinopsis
The Frontier Centre is an independent Canadian think tank that conducts research to develop effective and meaningful ideas for public policy reform.
Episodios
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Manitoba Hydro's Preferred Development Plan
05/05/2014 Duración: 28minDavid Vardy is interviewed by Geoff Currier on CJOB regarding his speech given for the Frontier Centre entitled: A Tale of Two Debacles: Muskrat Falls and Manitoba Hydro's Preferred Development Plan
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Custom Elections Challenge Charter Rights
05/05/2014 Duración: 01minCustom band elections on First Nations are difficult for many Canadians to understand. Recently, the Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba adopted new election rules that prevent anyone under the age of 50 from running for chief, and anyone under the age of 40 from running for band councillor. Also, anyone in a common law relationship is not allowed to run for office. It means that 80% of the Garden Hill community is not eligible to run for chief or councillor. As a custom band, Garden Hill is not covered by the Indian Act rules on elections and has been allowed to develop its own election code. However, they are still obliged to comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada's constitution. The Charter does not allow discrimination based on age or marital status. But Ottawa's hands are tied, and any band member who feels that their charter rights have been violated must take their case to court. Custom elections offer a degree of self-government, but they can also generate problems. A po
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Saskatchewan Scrapping Standardized Testing
22/04/2014 Duración: 12minSaskatchewan government announced it was was scrapping standardized testing. Michael Zwaagstra is a public high school teacher and a Senior researcher with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
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Distracted Driving Laws Are Not Effective
22/04/2014 Duración: 01minAll Canadian provinces have laws in place that punish people for texting or talking on cellphones while driving. But the rising number of tickets indicates people are just not listening. Jurisdictions with distracted driving laws have actually seen an increase in collisions compared to similar places that have no such laws. Police officers often catch drivers on their phones at stop lights where it is relatively safe, so drivers are tempted to dial while moving because they're less likely to get caught. These laws also encourage drivers to text or phone from their laps rather than at eye level, causing them to take their eyes completely off the road. The biggest danger in all of this is that using a phone divides the driver’s focus of attention, increasing the risk of a collision. The additional distraction of watching out for police officers only makes it worse. In some communities, officers are posing as panhandlers to catch distracted drivers. Rather than all this effort and expense focused o
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Cold Lake First Nations Employment Initiatives
09/04/2014 Duración: 01minUnemployment is a chronic problem for Canada’s Aboriginal people, but Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta have achieved success that’s worth trumpeting. Band member James Blackman started the Primco Dene Group of Companies. The businesses are wholly owned by the Cold Lake band, includes a catering company, an emergency medical services company, and a well-servicing company, among others. So far the Primco Dene Group employs 650 people, and 500 of them are Aboriginal. Employees may try several different jobs before finding the one they prefer. The result is greater satisfaction for both employee and employer. Some employment policies are specifically designed to accommodate cultural needs. More bereavement days are allowed each year, reflecting the importance of funeral ceremonies in Aboriginal families. A high school diploma is not considered essential, and many employees have been successful in demonstrating their abilities in other ways. They also take a more relaxed approach to things like criminal
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Cutting through the Edu-Babble
07/04/2014 Duración: 39minCutting through the Edu-Babble - Research Fellow Michael Zwaagstra - Nineteenth National Congress on Rural Education in Canada, Saskatoon, March 31, 2014
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Unconditional Cash Transfers Better Than Ineffective Welfare Programs
07/04/2014 Duración: 01minPoliticians are fond of championing the middle class, but a recent study by Statistics Canada shows that middle income Canadians are doing relatively well compared with those who fall below the poverty line and younger Canadians are falling behind older cohorts. Traditional welfare programs have done little to help those who need it most. One option would be replacing transfer payments to provinces with cash transfers to individuals. Those transfers would go directly to every Canadian. Since it would be taxable, those above the income tax exemption level would see clawbacks that would ensure that low income Canadians benefit the most. Economists on both the left and the right now see cash transfers as an improvement over programs that lock many Canadians into a cycle of dependence. As far back at the 1970s, Manitoba showed some positive results with a guaranteed income pilot program in Dauphin, but there wasn’t much follow-up. Unconditional transfers also have less administrative cost than traditional as
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Michael Zwaagstra - Education Assessment Fads on John Gormley Live
02/04/2014 Duración: 33minMichael Zwaagstra joins John Gormley to discuss Education Assessment Fads.
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Robert Murray Interviewed on CFRA Ottawa
27/03/2014 Duración: 09minAlison Redford is stepping down, an interview with Robert Murray, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, on how she has been losing the support of her caucus and was unable to maintain support.
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Civil Forfeiture Laws Victimize Citizens
25/03/2014 Duración: 01minMore and more Canadians are being victimized by laws that allow authorities to seize assets that are suspected of being the proceeds of crime. In several provinces, property and other assets can be seized even without formal charges being laid, let alone a conviction in the case. Authorities only have to prove, based on a balance of probabilities, that property was acquired by illegal means or was used to help commit a crime. Such laws were originally created to help fight organized crime, but many now argue that the net is far too wide. An example is the story of Chad Squire who was stopped by the RCMP near Brooks Alberta in 2010. Police seized $27,000 from him, claiming that it must have been acquired illegally. In fact it was money he received from selling his house, but it took two years and an expensive court fight before it was returned. 74 year old Elizabeth Thomson of Calgary, watched as Alberta Justice obtained an order against her condo, accusing her son of using the property for criminal p
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Textbooks Remain A Valuable Tool In The Classroom
20/03/2014 Duración: 01minThe use of textbooks in our schools has been declining in recent years. Many so-called ‘Progressive’ teachers argue that textbooks are a waste of money because all of their content is available online at the click of a mouse. These same educators argue that textbooks are full of biased and out-dated information. But in fact the quality of online information varies widely. Websites are a hit-and-miss collection of good and bad sources, while a well-written textbook can still organize the most important information in a way that most students can easily understand. Quality textbooks are subject to extensive review by experts in the field and representatives of various interest groups. This process weeds out mistakes and misrepresentations. Also, a quality textbook tends to include the perspective of more than one author. An excellent example is a history text called Shaping Canada. It provides a chronological overview of Canadian history and contains many excerpts from primary sources. While textboo
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Michael Zwaagstra Interview (CKNW) Pt. 2
20/03/2014 Duración: 08minPart 2 - Michael Zwaagstra, researcher for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, joins the discussion about a petition to change math education in Alberta in 2014. (CKNW-AM)
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Michael Zwaagstra Interview (CKNW)
20/03/2014 Duración: 06minMarch 16, 2014 - Michael Zwaagstra, researcher for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, joins the discussion about a petition to change math education in Alberta in 2014. (CKNW-AM)
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Heated Sidewalks Are Worth Consideration
12/03/2014 Duración: 01minPeople laughed when Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman called in the army to help clear snow in 1999. But snow and ice present many challenges for municipal government. When snow is plowed to clear the way for vehicles, parking becomes difficult, and icy sidewalks are also treacherous for pedestrians. After a recent snowstorm in Calgary, dozens of people were injured and taken to the hospital when they fell on icy streets and sidewalks. Snow removal is expensive, and some cities are determined to find a better way. Saskatoon and Edmonton are considering heated sidewalks, and they’re by no means the first winter communities to do so. Holland, Michigan installed a water recirculation system under downtown sidewalks. It has substantially reduced the need for plowing, sanding, and salting. Iceland is blessed with an abundance of geothermal energy, and Reykjavik uses it to keep sidewalks and streets clear of snow. And in BC, the Vancouver suburb of Richmond has begun a heated sidewalk project. Nearby businesses
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Breakfast On The Frontier With Lorne Weiss
11/03/2014 Duración: 24minBreakfast on the Frontier with Lorne Weiss on February 19, 2014 in Winnipeg. Title: Funding Education in Manitoba: Let's Pay Fair
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Lunch On The Frontier With Martha Hall Findlay
11/03/2014 Duración: 54minLunch on the Frontier with Martha Hall Findlay.
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Canada Should Continue Creating Its Own Trade Agreements
10/03/2014 Duración: 01minMany economists agree that free trade promotes economic growth, reduces poverty and benefits all countries that participate. The World Trade Organization is supposed to facilitate global trade by helping to reduce and eventually eliminate barriers like tariffs and quotas. The latest round of talks at the WTO have been going on for more than a decade, and at the same time, Canada and other countries have been working independently to broker their own agreements. Last fall, Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement with the European Union. Now Ottawa is close to finalizing a bilateral trade deal with South Korea. The government is also working on the Trans Pacific Partnership, an agreement that will include a total of twelve other countries. If these agreements pan out, it will be three significant deals that our country has negotiated outside the realm of the World Trade Organization. Ottawa appears to be succeeding in opening our borders to world markets, while the WTO process has stagnated
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British Columbians Should Note Success Stories Of Offshore Oil Development
27/02/2014 Duración: 01minFor more than 40 years, the government has prohibited offshore oil exploration in BC. Other regions have benefitted enormously by allowing and encouraging such development. Newfoundland and Labrador has gone from being a “have-not” to a prosperous province, thanks in large measure to offshore oil. Thirty percent of provincial revenue now comes from oil royalties. Norway is another great example. With a population of just over 5 million, they have been able to stock away half a trillion dollars in a heritage fund thanks to North Sea oil. Here in Canada we are fortunate to have significant oil and gas deposits in all three of the oceans that we touch on, although severe cold and a short drilling season make development a formidable challenge in the Arctic. Development off the coast of BC would be much easier by comparison. The relatively shallow water allows for well-established technologies and simpler practices than those used in the Gulf of Mexico, where the massive BP spill occurred four years a
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Steve Lafleur Interviewed on CBC’s The 180 about the advantages of taxi de-regulation
18/02/2014 Duración: 03minFrontier Centre Policy Analyst Steve Lafleur makes the case for taxi de-regulation on CBC's The 180.
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Atlantic Canada Subsidized Using More Than Equalization
18/02/2014 Duración: 01minPrince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest province, but people who live there receive three times as much as they contribute in premiums, when they collect Employment Insurance. EI benefits in all of Atlantic Canada greatly outweigh the premiums paid. The difference each year is about 1.5 billion dollars. Special benefits for fishers on P.E.I. totalled 13.5 million dollars in 2011, and it’s a benefit that’s not available to other self-employed Canadians. The issue of regional subsidies is much larger than that. Spending by Ottawa on training programs in PEI in 2011 was nearly triple what was spent on a per capita basis in Ontario and Alberta. Toronto’s Pearson Airport pays almost 50% of all rents paid by airports in Canada, even though it handles less than 30% of all passengers in the country. The airport in Charlottetown pays no rent to Ottawa at all. The same regional disparities exist in other federal programs. Continuing down this path of economic dependency is unreasonable and risky. Many peopl