Policy Options

Revoici notre numéro annuel consacré au budget fédéral et, du même coup, à la campagne électorale 2011. Car trois jours après le dépôt du budget, le gouvernement a été...

POLICY OPTIONS: Mr. Flaherty, thanks for doing this. The opposition parties are pretty unanimous in saying they’re not going to be supporting the budget, including the NDP. And we...

Budget season in Ottawa has come and gone, and this year the federal government’s outline for its spending and taxing priorities didn’t generate much excitement. Maybe that’s understandable, since...

The Finance Minister delivered a stay-the-course 2011 budget with few surprises, and the “goodies” it contained were more in the interest of the government’s survival than sound economics. As...

In his 2011-12 budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty faced the daunting task of balancing the need to produce a credible fiscal plan for Canada with the political reality that...

In spite of the Conservatives’ seemingly credible efforts in the direction of addressing several key NDP demands, Jack Layton turned thumbs down on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s March 22...

Le Plan budgétaire 2011 déposé par le ministre des Finances Jim Flaherty le 22 mars dernier est d’une importance toute particulière pour trois raisons : faute d’obtenir l’appui des...

The Gandalf Group conducts two major tracking programs of Canadian opinion. The C Suite Study, conducted for the Globe and Mail and BNN, and sponsored by KPMG, examines the...

When I argued in the February issue of Policy Options, in “Truth and Consequence: The WikiLeaks Saga,” that the leak of the US cables had beneficial impacts, we hadn’t...

As most Western commentators — and leaders — are swept up by the romance of the great Arab revolts sweeping North Africa and the Middle East at the beginning...

Selon les plus récents sondages, le taux d’impopularité du gouvernement libéral de Jean Charest frôle les 80 p. 100. Après une annus horribilis marquée par une série d’allégations de...

At the start of a new decade, Canadians have much to be proud of, solid grounds to be ambitious for our future, and no reasons whatsoever to be complacent....

The issue of guaranteed annual income to alleviate poverty must be considered together with economic growth. When a country’s economy grows, people get richer and they are able to...

Until the end of his career in the 1980s, Tommy Douglas used to delight audiences with this story about the butter-churning ladies of Weyburn, Saskatchewan: In the depths of...

I board a plane from Frankfurt, bound for Dubai on one of my innumerable trips to Afghanistan. I muse about my journey over the years in the land of...

Canada’s recent failure to secure one of the rotating seats on the United Nations Security Council came as a shock to many. Accustomed to being in the most exclusive...

Following massive recalls in 2010, consumer product safety has recently received a fillip in Canada. The Health Minister has announced new regulations governing cribs and cradles and aimed at...

Between 1967 and 1984 , the balance that served Tories well in the past would be, on occasion, quite elusive. But it would not disappear altogether. In fact, the...

It is one of the enduring conceits of Canadian Liberals to allege, from time to time, that Canadian Conservatives are thirsting to impose American-style conservatism on this country. Actually,...

Les syndicats américains sont au plancher. En 2010, le taux de syndicalisation du pays n’était plus que de 11,9 p. 100, comparativement à 20,1 p. 100 en 1983. En...