February 27th 2015 - Politics - Policy Options

A handy guide for party switchers: It doesn’t have to be a total disaster

A handy guide for party switchers: It doesn’t have to be a total disaster

So you’re a politician or a political staffer and thinking of switching parties. It doesn’t have to end in total disaster. Here’s a handy scoring system to guide your deliberations.

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January 1st 2015 - Archive -

Policy Forum: Kids Are Not Boats

Policy Forum: Kids Are Not Boats

The central argument of George Will’s book Statecraft as Soulcraft: What Government Does1 is that governments by their very nature affect not only the external behaviour but also the “inner life” of citizens. To put it another way, government cannot…

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July 13th 2012 - Politics - Macleans

Revealed: Stephen Harper is conservative. Really.

Revealed: Stephen Harper is conservative. Really.

A number of the Canadian commentariat have worked themselves into a lather saying that of the many bad things Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is, conservative isn’t among them. Or for some, of the many good things the Conservative government isn’t, conservative is…

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January 19th 2012 - Alberta - The School For Public Policy

PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE GROWTH IN ALBERTA

PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE GROWTH IN ALBERTA

In recent years, Alberta’s fiscal stance has shifted from large surpluses to deficits, and a large part of the blame appears to be due to rising public sector salaries. Since 2000, the province’s public sector wage bill has shot up…

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May 11th 2011 - Politics - Globe and Mail

Who really benefited from vote splits this election?

Who really benefited from vote splits this election?

Election night was tough for our friends in the Liberal Party. We know what that’s like. And so we can well understand why they and some of their apologists have been tempted to try to de-legitimize the key election outcomes…

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