Frontier Centre

The media plays a vital role in the health and well-being of our democracy. And yet, the trust and confidence in legacy media has never been lower. At the same time, so called independent and smaller media outlets are on the rise. What is the role of the fourth estate? What are key issues it faces today in a challenging environment?. Why is it that certain big stories tend to be only found in smaller media?

Affordable, dependable, reliable and secure energy has always, been foundational to Canada's economic competitiveness and high standard of living. Yet the broader political and media consensus today, based on the unproven theory of human caused climate change, is all about suppressing and ending the benefits of Canada's immense energy resource wealth. As the largest source of tax revenue and high paying jobs this anti-energy policy is highly irrational and, if achieved, will greatly degrade the way of life of every Canadian. Indeed, the current public discussion regarding energy ignore the fact that world demand for fossil fuels has never been higher. What are those undeniable facts and what really is the policy path forward for Canada?

Leaders on the Frontier | So Much More We Can Be with the Hon. Grant Devine, Premier of Saskatchewan 1982-1991 The evidence, as detailed in the Frontier Centre book “So Much More We Can Be”, shows that the Devine government was indeed an important inflection point in Saskatchewan history. It significantly diversified the provincial economy while creating long-lasting positive effects on Saskatchewan's revenues, employment and the quality of life of its citizens. What were those policy initiatives and why was the turn away from government ownership central to the principles and tactics that guided them? Saskatchewan, in many respects, now leads Canada as a province of prosperity and opportunity. How can we learn from these policy initiatives as we look to our future?

Patient Centered Health Care and Crisis Join us on Today! Patients at Risk: Exposing Canada's Health-care Crisis A Webinar featuring Senior Fellow Susan Martinuk in a discussion about Canada's health care system. REGISTER NOW → Our Topic: Sometimes health care hurts the very people it is supposed to heal. This is now the situation in Canada, where waitlists, rationed services and a fragmented system have resulted in tragic and unnecessary consequences to far too many patients. Susan Martinuk's newly published book, Patients at Risk: Exposing Canada's Health-care Crisis shares the heart-breaking stories of those who sought healing and instead found themselves trapped in a system that prioritizes an intangible ideology over patient care. How did Canada's beloved health-care system lose sight of its original purpose to heal and devolve into a system that routinely denies care to those who need it?

"Energy policy plays a central role in the health and vibrancy of Canada's economy and in the quality of life and high living standard of every Canadian. Canada's enormous energy wealth, particularly from its immense conventional oil and gas reserves, is our country's largest export and its greatest source of tax revenue and high paying jobs. Relative to other countries these ample supplies of energy have benefited citizens with lower energy prices. This policy has now shifted as Justin Trudeau's government climate change and anti-pipeline policies work to massively increase energy prices and the cost of goods and services across the board. Indeed, gasoline prices in early February across Canada broke an all-time record with a national average retail fuel price of $1.516 per litre. This session discusses this radical change in Canada's energy policy. What is behind the Trudeau government's anti-energy masterplan? Why this change and particularly the politics behind it? How will these changes impact the future of every key industry, your personal living standard and the future of Canada? Mr. McTeague explores the relationship artificially higher energy prices and the larger ""green agenda"" and its net-zero carbon goal and the Environmental Social Governance (ESG) movement? Who do these policies benefit and why do current governments and others support such policies given their disastrous impacts? Lastly, what happened to the pro-prosperity Liberal Party that saved Canada's finances under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin?"

Canada's health care system by almost all measures and indexes performs at or near the bottom of OECD rankings while being among the most expensive in the world. Patients experience a myriad of waiting lists and health bureaucracy that often create immeasurable suffering and poor results. Given this reality, how can healthcare in Canada improve and catch up to the rest of the western world? What is the way forward and out of Canada's unstainable, expensive and low performing health care system? One pioneering voice for change has been Dr. Brian Day who has spent decades advocating for changes that would put patients first. Dr. Day will be joining Leaders on the Frontier for a fascinating discussion about his personal journey as a Physician, the challenges of our healthcare system and a pathway way forward to better serve Canadians. Please consider donating to Frontier Centre for Public Policy: https://fcpp.org/donations

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Canada's 14 Governments have instituted almost two years of unprecedented drastic emergency policies in an attempt to safeguard human health. These actions have severely curtailed individual rights and freedoms while causing enormous economic and social damage. We will discuss this, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of a written Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, with the last living signator of the 1982 Charter, the Hon. Brian Peckford. This is an important discussion on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of a written Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada. How badly have our Governments assaulted and undermined these basic rights and freedoms? Was it a fair trade-off?

Smashing the Top 5 Climate Crisis Myths with John Robson, Executive Director of the Climate Discussion Nexus. Dr. Robson will be discussing the Top 5 Climate Myths, from (1) the settled scientific consensus to (2) the unprecedented rise in temperature (3) the demonstrated increase in extreme weather to (4) the ready availability of alternatives to fossil fuels to (5) the apocalypse that awaits if we do not take drastic action now.

Frontier senior fellows Brian Giesbrecht and David Redman discuss the continuing Covid policy fiasco, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates with Glorious and Free, a public discussion group with membership mostly in Ontario and Quebec. November 22, 2021. (3 hours).

Leaders On The Frontier with Lord Conrad Black (Nov 25) by Frontier Centre

Discussion with Wendell Cox.

Discussion with Tom Flanagan.

A new book crossed my desk a few weeks ago now and I knew it was coming because there were a series of articles are written over a recent years by the Frontier Center for Public Policy drilling down on certain parts of the Divine government legacy. Divine led the first conservative government since the Depression era. Grant Devine becomes the Premier of Saskatchewan and replaces a long time NDP government in the largest sweep in Saskatchewan political history. The NDP resurged and overwhelming defeats Grant Devine in 1991 and govern uninterrupted until Brad Wall in 2007. The new book that is now out from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy is So Much More We Can Be:  Saskatchewan's paradigm shift and the final chapter on the Divine government 1982 to 1991. For a lot of us in the age of those who remember the Divine years and politics and even those of you too young to remember when you say grab Divine government you remember how it ended the largest political scandal in Saskatchewan history involving an expense account fraud. This book provides a deeper look on the effective the Divine government had and drills down on the paradigm shift it had on Saskatchewan. Co-authored by the names you will know well writers and Edward Willett, Joe Ralco, and Gerard Lucyshyn.

An Elder Speaks: Great Leaders Have Great Fellowship by Frontier Centre

An Elder Speaks: “The Better Men They Were, the More Useful for Their Followers” by Frontier Centre

An Elder Speaks: Total Change Would Bring Chaos by Frontier Centre

An Elder Speaks: “Money in the Hands of the System, the System Will Impose Its Will." by Frontier Centre

13.2 Non - Tax Fraud Compliance 35s by Frontier Centre

An Elder Speaks: “Deprive The System Of Its Money And You Empower The Ordinary" “The reason for bringing in this radical change is the imutability of the system and its ability to resist any change over the years and the necessity of doing what they’re now proposing to do in the case of cancers, which is deprive the cancer of its source of blood. In this case you deprive the system of its money, of a good chunk of its money, and you empower the ordinary Indian so that he can then hold the system accountable and bend it to his interests. That’s the purpose of the proposal on treaty money.  It’s ironical that the people who developed the treaty in the first place understood this and had set up the system to be self-correcting. And the reason it lost its ability to self-correct is that the individual was deprived of his strength - treaty money.” -   Jean Allard

An Elder Speaks: Racism Is a Justification for Self-Interests by Frontier Centre

An Elder Speaks: “It's Like a Province With No Accountability" by Frontier Centre

Danielle Smith interviews Dr. Marco Navarro-Génie and Dr. Barry Cooper, senior research fellows at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy about their new book The Politics of Pandemic Moral Panic.

Since the 1990s zombie firms have been on the rise; in fact, the Bank of Canada states that the number of zombie firms in the country is higher than in other countries. These zombies are anything but the fictional ones referred to in movies, these ones are very real! A zombie firm refers to any business who is unable to pay its debt-servicing costs from its current profits over an extended period of time. The measures taken during the COVID crisis by the federal government and the Bank of Canada to tackle the economic downturn are leading to a direct increase of zombie firms. The federal government’s economic response included wage subsidies of 75% for all employers who experienced a loss in gross revenues of at least 15% in March and 30% in April and May. In order to improve market liquidity, the Bank of Canada has lowered interest rates and began purchasing Government of Canada securities and Canada Mortgage Bonds. While this had reduced the financial pressure on firms at the time the creation of really low-interest-rate environments -- consequently creating the perfect conditions for zombie firms to rise. Zombie firms have lower labour and factor productivity that hinder potential growth and investment opportunities for productive firms. Although it is critical that governments focus on flattening the COVID curves, it is equally important for governments to address the rise of zombie firms and ensure that economic measures are getting to the productive firms.

By Dr. Sunetra Gupta and Dr. Martin Kulldorff Lockdowns have generated enormous collateral damage on other health outcomes, such as plummeting childhood vaccination rates, worst cardiovascular disease outcomes, less cancer screening, and deteriorating mental health, just to name a few. Even if all lockdowns are lifted tomorrow, this is something that we will have to live with – and die with – for many years to come.

Authors Barry Cooper and Marco Navarro-Génie join Sheila Gunn Reid to talk about their new book on the Canadian government's reaction to COVID-19.

Lies at the Heart of Identity Politics: Why do individuals insist on professing their professional accomplishments through identifying their gender and race? Q: "During the vice presidential debate in the United States, were you struck by Kamala Harris's need to tell everybody that she was a black women when she was a prosecutor and she was a black women when she was the Attorney General of California?" A: "It is par for the case these days, it is very common for people to invoke census categories of race, gender, sexuality, even religion and ethnicity to somehow claim ... Chicago's Morning Answer The Dan Proft Show AM 560 WIND Salem Radio Network

Imagine you were given the opportunity to completely redraw the borders and boundaries of North America however you choose. Would you redo them along party lines so the supporters of every party have their own territory for them to control? Would you have a certain number of each party control different areas? Or would you change anything at all? Could there be an answer to this question that would help in an increasingly divided world? Guest: Brian Giesbrecht, Senior Fellow, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, retired Manitoba provincial judge

Guest Brian Giesbrecht, retired Manitoba provincial court judge, Senior Fellow with the Frontier Center for Public Policy and C2C Journal author.

Wendell Cox - Senior Fellow, Frontier Centre for Public Policy - Housing affordability in Ottawa has declined from “affordable” in 2005 to “seriously unaffordable” in 2019 according to the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Brian Giesbrecht is interviewed on the Roy Green Show.

Good politics, bad economics. This was the verdict among Canada's most economic literate think tanks on the conservative's platform plank on the trimming of the Goods & Service tax, by two points. For various reasons, these institutions appeared more favorably disposed towards the Liberals income tax cuts.

Many of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers such as: Tesla, Uber, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Nissan, GM, and Ford along with some other less-common brands are working on and planning to release driverless cars or driverless systems in the future. It is projected that the autonomous vehicle market in the US will be approximately $87 billion by 2030, now is certainly the time to be thinking about self-driving legislation.

Can you imagine stumbling upon the Mad Hatter’s tea party, watching as the discussions become increasingly absurd – and yet wanting a permanent seat at the table? Could Lewis Carroll have been having nightmares about the Paris climate treaty when he wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? The US President was 100% correct (not just 97%) when he showed true leadership when walked America away from the madness laid out before him and his fellow citizens on the Paris climate table.

The stated objective of Canada’s equalization program is to ensure provincial governments in less-prosperous regions of the country are able to deliver high-quality public services to residents. This is a worthwhile, even noble objective. That the program is motivated by good intentions, however, does not necessarily mean it is producing positive results. In fact, equalization is producing disastrous unintended consequences for all the provinces, including those receiving the biggest cheques.

The holidays are a time when many of us count our blessings, and think of society’s least fortunate. While there are many things that can be done to help those in need, some policies designed to do so backfire. Rent control is one of them. Surveys of economists continually show a nearly perfect consensus within the profession that rent control reduces the stock and quality of rental housing.

The decision to turf laws that ensure taxpayer protection and balanced budgets most often come back to haunt the politicians you make such decisions.Properly designed, such legislation can serve as a fiscal constitution that delivers superior long-term policy and better services paid for by expanded growth inoculates politicians from the danger of fiscal whims.

Legalize and tax marijuana and the budget will balance itself. Marijuana advocates from stoners to recreational users to the Prime Minister have tried to convince us of this for years. It makes some sense that a product so commonly used should be regulated, not criminalized, sending its newly-enabled taxation revenues to the public coffers. Unfortunately, recent federal announcements and the examples of two American states tell us a fiscal boon from legal pot is nothing more than reefer madness.

In this interview with Sandra Gagnon of Radio-Canada Alberta Marco Navarro-Génie commented on the strengths and weaknesses of Alberta's United Conservative Party heading into the 2019 election of April 16. Dans cette entrevue avec Sandra Gagnin à Radio-Canada Alberta, Marco Navarro-Génie offre ses commentaires à propos des forces et faiblesses du Parti Conservateur Uni en Alberta alors que la province se prépare pour les élections du 16 avril 2019.

The cancellation of the Energy East pipeline project by TransCanada Corporation, citing delays caused by the regulatory process, newly lengthened and thickened by Ottawa, is emblematic of forces conspiring against rational energy and regulatory policy.

Opponents of oil pipelines, such as the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, have arguably caused unnecessary harm to the environment, reduced public safety, and slowed the Canadian economy.

The environmentalist war on fossil fuels has opened a new front: a war on pipelines. For years, activists claimed the world was rapidly depleting its oil and natural gas supplies. The fracking revolution (horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) obliterated that argument, and sent US oil and gas production to new heights.

Justice Pricing: Is it really justice or just plain hate? by Frontier Centre

Once they were big, really big, kings of Hollywood, producers of movies that were nominated for over 300 Oscars, but when their founder was outed as Captain America of the freestyle groping team, the Weinstein Company name became toxic.

Cornwallis And Ryerson: Heros Or Villians? by Frontier Centre

How should municipal services be delivered to citizens? The political right argues that outsourcing services is usually more efficient, while the left argues that privatization of services such as waste management or waste water treatment would lead to lower quality services. In actuality many municipal services are delivered by both private companies and public employees. Sometimes public employees are best position to provide better services and some time private contractors have the edge. Municipalities should examine the cost of both options.

Can’t Pick and Choose Free Speech: U of M missed opportunity to lead

Demographia with Wendell Cox by Frontier Centre

The federal government has decided to throw $950 million dollars into “strengthening Canada’s most promising clusters and accelerating economic growth in highly innovative industries…while positioning Canadian firms for global leadership.” What this means is that the feds will handpick five business proposals (which will probably turn out to be in Liberal electoral strongholds) and “supercharge” their competitiveness and “leverage” their technologies and “add informatics, connectivity and traceability” And other buzz-word stuff that will supposedly increase economic growth and add jobs.

The House of Commons bans certain terms as “unparliamentary speech”. It’s time we all stopped using certain phrases in our own debates. The current Minister of the Environment has referred to some of her opponents as “climate change deniers”, a nasty and dishonest charge.

The age of driverless automobiles is almost upon us. Most of the world’s car makers are working on prototypes and it is expected that by 2030 the autonomous vehicle market in the US alone will be worth approximately $87 billion. How will Canada deal with this innovation.

Last year, a geological survey made a promising discovery of diamonds in northern Manitoba. The province should move quickly to enhance the potential for revenue by involving industry partners, First Nations and municipalities in the region. Other areas have fumbled the opportunity such a mine would bring to economic development – the De Beers find in Ontario came to no good end when talks with the Attawapiskat First Nation broke down.