It’s hard to know what to make of this budget. Despite 424 pages, it comes across as the single most un-serious and flimsy budget document in recent memory. It’s the Peter Pan budget, created on a wish and a prayer. It hopes the world economy recovers instead of soberly facing up to the possibility that Canada’s federal government should get our fiscal house in order regardless.
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In The News —
March 10, 2010
The IPCC's Abominable Snowmen
The scientists who said that Himalayan glaciers will be gone by 2035 have admitted the claim has as much credibility as sightings of the mythical Yeti. It's their fraudulent claims that are melting away, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.N. body tasked with scaring us to death about global warming, has admitted that the claim in its 2007 report about the Himalayan glaciers disappearing was not based on any scientific study or research. It was instead based on one scientist's speculation in a telephone interview with a reporter.
o The IPCC claimed: "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of their disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the earth keeps warming at the current rate."
o As it turns out, the earth hasn't been warming at all, at least not in the last decade, and reputable scientists have said it may continue to cool for decades to come.
o Even if it was warming, glaciologists insist, the sheer mass of Himalayan glaciers made such a prediction laughable.
According to Professor Julian Dowdeswell, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University:
o Even a small glacier, such as the Dokriani glacier, is up to 120 meters (394 feet) thick; a big one would be several hundred meters thick and tens of kilometers long.
o The average glacier is 300 meters thick, so to melt one even at the rate of five meters a year would take half a century.
o That is a lot faster than anything we are seeing now, so the idea of losing it all by 2035 is unrealistically high; the current maximum observed rate of glacier melt worldwide is two to three meters a year.
Like the infamous "hockey stick" graph purporting to show sudden and man-induced warming, and the Climate-gate e-mails showing the efforts by researchers associated with Britain's Climate Research unit to "hide the decline" in global temperatures, the
Himalayan glacier claim, like the IPCC report itself, is science fiction and not science fact, says IBD.
Source: Editorial, "The IPCC's Abominable Snowmen,"
Investor's Business Daily, January 21, 2010.
See More "In the News"
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Equalization is a program run by the Canadian government that takes federal tax dollars and transfers them to the provincial governments of less wealthy provinces. The program’s objective is to ensure that all provinces are able to provide comparable government services to their residents. But the program is overshooting the mark. The equalization program sends so much money to the major recipients that these provinces are able to provide services that are actually more generous than what is available in the provinces that have historically paid the most into equalization - Alberta, BC and Ontario.
Join us weekly across the prairies for our hard hitting policy commentary broadcast across the Goldenwest Radio Network - Click here for a list of 13 stations and broadcast times.
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March 11, 2010 —
4th Annual Aboriginal Governance Index Update (MBC)
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March 11, 2010 —
4th Annual Aboriginal Governance Index Update (MBC)
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~30 min
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March 8, 2010 —
Where Are Aboriginal Affairs in Canada Headed? (Doug Bland)
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~2 min
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March 6, 2010 —
Canada's Broken Equalization Program
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~30 min
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March 4, 2010 —
The Myths of Photo Radar Exposed (Nancy Thomas)
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~7 min
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March 1, 2010 —
The Real Have-Nots in Conferderation (CHQR)
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~2 min
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February 26, 2010 —
Self-Government Shouldn’t Trump Human Rights
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~2 min
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February 26, 2010 —
Reserves Should Be Closer to Urban Centres
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~2 min
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February 19, 2010 —
A Kuhn-Style Revolution In Climate Science
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~2 min
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February 12, 2010 —
School Performance Data Should Be Public
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~5 min
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February 10, 2010 —
Non-viable Communities (CBC-Calgary)
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~1 min
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February 9, 2010 —
Remote Bands Urged To Consider Reserve Relocations (MBC)
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Latest Publications
— March 11, 2010
Manitoba’s decision to freeze wage growth for its highly paid public sector employees will help ensure the province’s fiscal health, and arguments that the policy will hurt the economy are based on weak economic arguments.
— March 10, 2010
Evidence from the Third Annual Aboriginal Governance Index reveals that First Nations with high Electoral rankings perform well overall.
— March 8, 2010
The new federal budget was created on a wish and a prayer, on a hope the world economy recovers instead of soberly facing up to the possibility that Canada’s federal government should get our fiscal house in order.
— March 8, 2010
PowerPoint slides which accompanied the Lunch on the Frontier speech by Doug Bland in Winnipeg March 5, 2010. Watch while listening to related audio below.
— March 8, 2010
"Alberta people and companies send about $40 billion a year to Ottawa in taxes and other payments. The feds return just $19 billion. Annual net loss to Albertans: $21 billion."
— March 5, 2010
"As the economic crisis hit, Canada may have been the best prepared among developed nations when it came to the strength of its banking sector and government finances, but it seems ill-prepared to handle the global fallout."
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 Policy Notes
- A One Page Policy Discussion
2010-03-11 –
Freezing Government Wages is Prudent Cost-Control
2010-03-08 –
Ottawa’s Peter Pan Budget
2010-03-02 –
Inequalities of Equalization Leave Ontarians Worse Off
» View More Policy Notes
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2010-02-26 –
The Global Fiscal Crisis
2009-10-22 –
The End is Nigh
2009-09-24 –
Manitoba’s Public Sector is Larger, More Expensive Than Most
» View More Frontier Backgrounders
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 Perspectives
- Thoughts from the Advisory Board...
2010-02-20 –
Atlanta: Ground Zero for the American Dream
2010-02-17 –
When Welfarism Takes Over, Disaster Will Follow
2010-01-08 –
Climate conference organizers asked for trouble in Copenhagen
» View More Perspectives
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 Policy Series
- Longer Reports & Studies
2010-02-24 –
The Real Have-Nots In Confederation: British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario
2010-02-16 –
Opportunism and Exploitation: Climate Change Activism and Hostility to Liberal Civilization
2010-02-08 –
Respecting the Seventh Generation:A voluntary plan for relocating non-viable Native reserves
» View More Policy Series
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2009-11-13 –
Brian Lee Crowley, Founding President of AIMS, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
2009-07-31 –
Dr. Madhav Khandekar, Retired Environment Canada Scientist
2009-07-08 –
Dr. Kenneth P. Green, Environmental Scientist
» View More Conversations
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2010-02-23 –
2010 International Property Rights Index: Canada outranks USA; but Improvements Needed
2010-02-01 –
Behind The Classroom Door
2010-01-25 –
6th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
» View More Special Reports and Publications
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2009-09-02 –
How U.S. Protectionism is Killing Canada’s Livestock Producers
2009-02-26 –
Food Safety: Quality Matters, Not Just Price
2009-02-17 –
President Obama Is COOLing It
» View More Rural Renaissance Notes
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2010-03-08 –
Where Are Aboriginal Affairs in Canada Headed?
2010-03-03 –
The Myths of Photo Radar Exposed
2010-02-12 –
Wastewater Problems in Cottage Country
» View More PowerPoint Slides from Events
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2010-03-04 –
Where’s Aboriginal Leadership on Human Rights?
2010-02-09 –
Time To Debate The Viability Of Some Reserves
2010-01-26 –
Wanted: A New Vision for First Nations
» View More Aboriginal Voices from Ground Zero
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 Worth a Look
- In our Virtual Library...
2010-02-28 –
Health Insurance: Clear Diagnosis, Uncertain Remedy
2010-02-25 –
Labor in Denial as ETS Fairyland Fractures
2010-02-23 –
Denial Not Just For The Deniers
» View More Worth a Look
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2010-02-15 –
IPCC Corruption Included Ignoring Facts and Science
2010-02-07 –
Climategate Necessary to Cover Incorrect Climate Basics of IPCC
2010-01-23 –
Climate Cools But Arctic Ice Scares Continue
» View More Modern Environmentalist
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 Charticles
- A Graphical Look at Issues
2010-03-10 –
Fair Elections Strong Indicator of High Performing First Nations
2010-03-05 –
Canada’s Cropland: Becoming Better Protected From Erosion
2010-02-19 –
Canada v. Europe on Patient Rights: Canada Lags
» View More Charticles
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2010-03-08 –
Why 'Have' Provinces are the New Have-Nots
2010-03-05 –
Economic fallout upsets Canadian status quo, norms
2010-03-02 –
USA 15th in Property Rights Protections. Behind...Finland?
» View More Frontier Centre in the Media
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2009-03-14 –
The Frontier Goods & Services Interactive InfoMap
2008-09-15 –
Saskatchewan Carbon Capture Opportunity Cost Calculator
2008-09-11 –
Alberta Carbon Capture Opportunity Cost Calculator
» View More Interactive Policy
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2010-03-11 –
4th Annual Aboriginal Governance Index Update (MBC)
2010-03-11 –
4th Annual Aboriginal Governance Index Update (MBC)
2010-03-01 –
The Real Have-Nots in Conferderation (CHQR)
» View More Frontier Media Appearances
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2010-03-06 –
Canada's Broken Equalization Program
2010-02-26 –
Self-Government Shouldn’t Trump Human Rights
2010-02-19 –
A Kuhn-Style Revolution In Climate Science
» View More Frontier Radio Commentary
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2010-03-08 –
Where Are Aboriginal Affairs in Canada Headed? (Doug Bland)
2010-03-04 –
The Myths of Photo Radar Exposed (Nancy Thomas)
2010-02-03 –
My Life in the Grain Business William B. Parrish)
» View More Frontier Audio (Speeches/Events)
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2009-12-18 –
Healthcare Consumer Index Coverage (CBC SK)
2009-12-18 –
Frontier Event Picketed (CTV Regina)
2009-12-11 –
Explaining the 2009 Local Government Performance Index (Seymour)
» View More Frontier Channel - Video
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2010-02-28 –
How I Was Not Al Gored Into Submission
2010-02-20 –
Tom Brokaw Explains Canada
2010-02-10 –
The Green Police
» View More Frontier Recommended Video
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RE: Why You Pay a Fortune for Airline Tickets
— January 12, 2010
I was extremely impressed with your article about the lack of competition among North American air carriers. I fly within Europe fairly frequently and I am endlessly astonished by their low "domestic" prices in comparison with ours. Keep making noise Mark Milke! You hit the nail on the head. Who knows? Maybe one day the Canadian governments will wake up its slumber and truly support the competitive spirit it purportedly supports! Good for you! -- Email from Eric Scott, Montreal
RE: The Other Name For “Profiling”: Smart Detective Work
— January 12, 2010
I think your article on profiling was very good. As you said - it's just good police work. The example of people destroying their passport while enroute is easily solved - why don't we have the willpower to do it. --Email from Bob Spinney
RE: Climategate: Who’s In Denial Now?
— January 4, 2010
Regarding Ken Green’s article, "Who's in denial now", which appeared in the Dec 28 Calgary Herald, I congratulate, and thank, him for a very well written, thoughtful, and truthful comment on climategate and the reprehensible agenda of the global warming frauds. -- E-mail from Calgary
RE: Saskatchewan wait times . . .
— December 21, 2009
Nice coverage! The only depressing part was that about the “national waiting time target for a hip joint replacement: 6 months”. We walk around thinking Sweden (3 months) is poor by European standards. - Email from Sweden
RE: The Moral Case Against Dumb Government Intervention
— January 14, 2009
Mark Milke is one of those people whose philosophy and consequent opinions are like carborundii. Depending on your relationship to his grindstones of wisdom, they can either grind you down and make you angry, or sharpen your sense of what is really of importance and give you an edge.
I hardly ever agree with his outlook, his opinions or his politics, but his columns never fail to engage my intellect and elevate my blood pressure. With this column, he has simultaneously angered me and sharpened my resolve. It is not just because I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment of the moral indictment against "stupid" governments and slatternly business entitlements. He has also expressed most reasonable Canadians' exasperation at our politicians (you can't really call them leaders) repeating the same insanity while hoping for different results. Well done, Mr. Milke. -- John O'Gorman, Bragg Creek
RE: Phil, You're Wrong . . .
— November 14, 2006
DON SANDBERG writes 'Their people are afraid to invest $20,000 or $30,000 in a reserve-based business, only to see it shut down by the band council for petty political reasons.'
And so they should be afraid to invest. This article passes a smell test that the old 'Give me more money' argument does not pass.
Thanks Don for showing some insight and leadership. - Reader comment in Globe and Mail
RE: What Best Helps the Poor?
— January 17, 2008
Bravo on your health care work and also on David Pankratz's research on tax policy and poverty! - E-mail from Winnipeg
RE: Your Land is not Your Land
— November 21, 2007
I just read Rolf Penner's op-ed in the National Post. Great stuff!
Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assist in helping Mr. Fouillard's cause or the Frontier Centre. I'm already on your mailing list and would like to get involved. E-mail from Ontario
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Neo-Nazi Hate, Courtesy of the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Your Tax Dollars
CHRC employees have been active members of neo-Nazi organizations for years, and have published countless anti-Semitic, anti-gay and anti-black comments online. CHRC employees have admitted to this under oath. On the same day Monfette testified about the hacking, CHRC investigator Dean Steacy testified there were no guidelines about what CHRC staff could do using their online Nazi memberships.
Harper Brings Hope to Rank-and-File Natives
Real democracy for our First Nations is long overdue and will be welcomed by the rank and file. Those who have dared to speak out and have paid the price by being blacklisted, denied housing, jobs and healthcare—even denied their very citizenship when they have been exiled and removed from band membership lists—will finally see some justice, and some justification for their sacrifice.
Escaping the Poverty Trap
Most people, given the choice, would like to live in a neighbourhood that boasts a sense of community. The poor are no different. A stake in one’s own community and a sense of belonging are crucial to generating social capital and good relations between neighbours.
An Answer for When Ontario Comes Calling
As factories close, more Ontarians will ask why their economy carries so much of the weight of an over-equalizing system of transfers. For some perspective, if Manitoba’s health system was scaled down to Ontario levels, we would have to fire 2,935 nurses and close 1,174 hospital beds. The wider body count in the public sector would have to fall by almost 41,000 working in the provincial government, the healthcare and university sectors, and local school boards.
War And Taxes
Death and taxes -- more specifically, war and taxes -- are often linked. The first recorded tax began six thousand years ago on a fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (now part of modern Iraq). Inscriptions on clay stones excavated at Lagash revealed not only the existence of a tax but why: to pay for a ferocious war.
The Parable of the Noon Gun
In the United States, according to urban development expert Wendell Cox, the costs of low density urban and suburban development work out to about $30 per person. On the other hand, the per capita cost of local government has gone up more than ten times that amount over the past 20 years. In other words, local government has grown fat and costly, but “sprawl” is not the cause.
The Inuit and the Polar Bear
Numbers like these show there are ample bears to provide for a sustainable and economically sound harvest. Since the sustainability of the polar bear hunt is not in doubt, that fact begs another question. The American government is free to wreak economic disaster on its own Inuit in Alaska. But to what extent should foreigners meddle in the internal affairs of another country?
Private Capital on Strike
Manitoba has consistently lagged both of its prairie neighbours over the last 14 years, a period which includes both low and high oil prices. As the only western Canadian province to experience declining population since 2000, Saskatchewan attracts about 50% more private capital per capita than Manitoba, a demographically similar province.
Good Ideas Drowning in Regulation
Canada’s ability to compete in the emerging $100-billion functional food industry continues to be fundamentally undermined by delays in approving new rules to allow for new additives, supplements and enzymes. Canada’s regulatory change sys¬tem is still the most cumbersome and time consuming in the Western world.
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Upcoming Events
How Hot Will It Get? with Dennis T. Avery, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and Co-Author
March 18, 2010 — Calgary
Democratization of the Capital Markets with S. Mark Francis, Business Consultant/ Stock Exchange Advisor
March 24, 2010 — Winnipeg
Free Agent Nations: The Rise of Independent Contractors over Employees with Ken Phillips, Co-Founder and Executive Director,Independent Contractors of Australia and Author of Independence and the Death of Employment (Connor Court)
March 30, 2010 — Saskatoon
Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights with Dr. Tom Flanagan, Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary and, André Le Dressay, Director of Fiscal Realities
April 5, 2010 — Regina
April 6, 2010 — Winnipeg
Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights with C.T. (Manny) Jules, Chief Commissioner, First Nations Tax Commission &, Dr. Tom Flanagan, Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary
April 6, 2010 — Winnipeg

Upcoming FCPP Appearances
Transparency and Accountability in the Public Sector - Panel #3
Speaker: Joseph Quesnel, Policy Analyst
Date: March 20, 2010
Time: 4:35 pm (approx.)
Place: John Dutton Theatre - Calgary Public Library
Hosted by the Macdonald-Cartier Society. For more details contact Immanuel Giulea at 514.577.2669 or immanuel@macdonaldcartier.com
Organizational Structure & Design HPG
Speaker: Peter Holle, President
Date: March 25, 2010
Time: 7 - 9:00 p.m.
Place: University of Manitoba, Room E2-160 Engineering Building
A discussion on creating high performance policy by maximizing transparency, neutrality and separation; distinguishing between private and public goods; and locating services at the most appropriate level of government. University grad school lecture, not open to public.
Manitoba Policy Blueprint for the Future
Speaker: Peter Holle, President
Date: March 30, 2010
Time: 8:45 a.m.
Place: Winnipeg Realtors, 1240 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
Booming Saskatchewan is on the verge of matching Alberta's flat income tax. Beleaguered Ontario is pushing to trim transfer payments. Alberta is under pressure to slash public spending and reform healthcare. Sales tax harmonization is happening in most provinces. How can Manitoba avoid being left in the dust in these turbulent times? Frontier's Peter Holle maps out how western Canada's only "have not" province can pull itself out of the slow lane.
For more details contact: Shaila Wise at 786-8854 or swise@winnipegrealtors.ca

Fri March 12, 2010

| Symbol | Current Price |
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| Canadian $ | 0.978
| | US $ | 1.0224
| | S&P/TSX | 11979.70
| | Dow Jones | 10611.84
| | NASDAQ | 2368.46
| | Crude Oil | 80.16
| | Uranium | 65.00
| | Potash | 116.93
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