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Published in the Edmonton Journal on March 14, 2012 By David Percy As the pace of development increases on the Mackenzie River Basin in northern Alberta and British Columbia, so does the urgency of negotiations about sharing the water of the northward flowing rivers. Past experience on eastward flowing rivers shows that a co-operative approach led the prairie provinces to a basic agreement on…

Last week’s announcement that former Pan Am Games chief Saad Rafi will run the proposed Ontario Retirement Pension Plan makes it sound ready to go. It is not. Until Ontarians get some basic information about how the scheme is supposed to work, the ORPP is more notion than actual plan. The provincial government has released some specs. The contribution rate: Employers and employees…

Which is the most innovative city in Canada? You might be surprised to know that Calgary has now taken the lead on that front, as measured by one of the most common ways of gauging innovation — patents. Calgary has now surpassed the likes of Ottawa and Waterloo in terms of patents per capita. And yet, the Alberta city's rise has happened without the fanfare that accompanied the ascent of the…

In the United States and around the world, millions of people are now asking “how could this happen?” How can we make sense of an America in which Donald Trump becomes the next president? Discovering the real answer to this question will be good for America—and for Canada, too. Many people who are now angry and perplexed focus on Donald Trump, the man. They argue that he is the real problem…

The recent settlements between teachers and the Ontario government raised teachers’ salaries and left existing pension arrangements in place. But with education spending the second largest part of provincial spending, and teacher salaries the central part of the education budget, are we getting good value for money? Paying teachers well attracts good people to teaching. That’s important. There…

A basic principle of good governance in Canada is that governments set mandates for crown corporations and regulatory authorities and those arm’s-length institutions then make use of the tools at their disposal to design actual policies. This principle is under threat on the campaign trail as politicians weigh in on one of the issues voters care most about these days, housing affordability.…