Free prescription drugs skew people away from healthy lifestyles and spread the financial burden to taxpayers who don’t qualify for the drug plans
Ontario taxpayers receive nothing but bad news from their politicians on drugs. In April 2017, both the Liberal government and the opposition NDP proposed expensive drug plans. The one proposed by Liberals took effect on Jan. 1, to the detriment of the public purse. It isn’t a prescription for affordable public health, it’s a prescription…
Recycling seems like a neat solution until we can't dump our garbage on another country and have to deal with it ourselves
China has decided that what goes around doesn’t have to come around – at least not around there. As 2017 came to an end, China stopped importing most recyclables, putting Canadian recyclers in a bind. The Chinese decision also revealed weaknesses in the basic premise of recycling. Many environmentalists regard recycling as imperative for the…
Don’t blame carbon emissions on weird weather. Corporations and governments have been changing the weather quite intentionally for decades
“How’s the weather?” is far more than a shallow conversation starter. It’s a serious issue. Many would be surprised to know that 100 years ago, the scientific interest in weather surpassed mere observation and advanced into outright modification. A brief survey of mainstream news reports and public documents in the United States confirms a largely…
Canada wants to include social and environmental standards in trade deals. Countries like China aren't interested in anything but economic advancement
If Brett Wilson were still taking business pitches on Dragons’ Den, he would never partner with Canada’s trade negotiators. During a recent television interview, he openly wondered whether the negotiators were “delusional, naïve or stupid.” It seems he settled on stupid, saying: “Right now, we’re trying to build on this social agenda of respect and…
A ban of anything the environmental movement doesn’t like is smart politics for a government that wants to look green. But a bag ban is pointless
The fish in the movie Finding Nemo had made their great escape. After a far-fetched plan and an unlikely set of circumstances, five fish made it out the window and into the ocean. But since they each floated as buoyant prisoners in plastic bags, one asked, “Now what?” It’s the very question those on the…
No one doubts that Canada needs tax reform. But there’s filleting and then there’s butchering
With its filleting knife in hand, the Trudeau government in July 2017 announced changes to income splitting, passive investment and capital gains that had farmers, small business owners, doctors and lawyers howling. The good news is some of the proposed changes won’t happen. The bad news is some of them will – and fast. “Most…
Ontario taxpayers receive nothing but bad news from their politicians on drugs. In April 2017, both the Liberal government and the opposition NDP proposed expensive drug plans. The one proposed by Liberals took effect on Jan. 1, to the detriment of the public purse. It isn’t a prescription for affordable public health, it’s a prescription…
