Straight thinking . . .
Reducing greenhouse gases by eliminating traffic lights and separating roadways - In the latest Frontier Policy Series Study . . .           Canada Health Consumer Index 2008 - Brussels-based Health Consumer Powerhouse and Frontier Centre release first consumer-focused bench-marking of Canada's provincial healthcareare systems - How do our provinces rank?           "It’s hard to imagine that set of bureaucracies that have particular bureaucratic interests will be able to respond effectively to this challenge of high tech medical care." - from Frontier's Conversation with Futurist George Gilder . . .          Spend real money burying carbon dioxide in a hole or on more useful things - Alberta Carbon Capture Opportunity Cost Calculator . . .           Drilling down into the latest Arctic Ice Cap Melting Panic - why you don't need to worry - a new Frontier Backgrounder . . .          How education policy is impacted by teacher unions - read the Frontier backgrounder . . .          "Politicians don’t realize that the science is not settled on climate change. They think it’s a done deal and it’s inevitable that they have to take action so the question that they face is what type of action should we take? But I think they need to step back and do the science because it’s not clear that there is a problem because of climate change. There may be no problem at all." - Frontier's conversation with Lawrence Solomon, author of "The Deniers" . . . .           "As a thought experiment, if SaskPower, SaskEnergy and SaskTel were privately owned and independently regulated, would the public of Saskatchewan support a government policy to borrow billions of dollars to nationalize them?" - a Frontier conversation with Sheldon Schwartz . . .           Although Human Rights Commissions were founded to address insupportable abuses in the areas of employment and accommodation, their mandate has been unwisely expanded to include what is, in effect, a censor’s role. Read the Policy Series Paper . . .           Allowing public housing tenants the "right to buy" - a Frontier Policy Series Paper . . .           Getting rich by exporting water to the United States - read our provocative Frontier Backgrounder . . .          Frontier's first video documentary debuts - Watch "Your Land is not Your Land" - How the RM of Ellice expropriated an 87 year old farmer's property for murky "tourism development" purposes.          Professor Bryan Schwartz explores Manitoba as a "supplicant society" - A Conversation on the Frontier . . .          Test your climate change knowledge on Frontier's Smart Green Climate Change Quiz . . .          Making the case for fiscal constitutions in the provinces - Leveling the Spending Field - a Policy Series Paper . . .          Our schoolkids are being taught a particular environmental ideology - why that's a problem - A Frontier Education Backgrounder . . .           When factors such as household income are controlled, there is no evidence that greater access to computers at school has a positive correlation with academic achievement . . . Read the Frontier Backgrounder on computers in our schools . . .          Indigenous Peoples from an International Perspective - Comparing aboriginals in Australia, New Zealand and Canada - Policy Series Paper . . .          The Frontier Centre for Public Policy releases its 2nd Annual Aboriginal Governance Index, based on a weighted composite of scores evaluating six broad areas of good governance. This year's index covers 112 Aboriginal communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Read Canada's only independent assessment of First Nations governance here . . .          A smarter way to fight poverty - "Removing more people at the bottom of the income ladder entirely from the tax code is a superior means of fighting poverty." - Read the Policy Series Paper . . . .          The line losses on Manitoba's planned west side transmission line alone will generate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to an extra 40,000 cars a year. Read the Policy Series Paper - "A Thread Down a Football Field" . . .           David MacKinnon, Ontario critic of regional subsidies discusses how "unthinking money" from Ontario and Alberta retards Manitoba's policy landscape, a Conversation on the Frontier . . .          Taking all the cars off Canada’s roads would get us only halfway to Kyoto’s targets for greenhouse gas reductions. . . 10 "Smart Green" ideas to reduce greenhouse gases. . .           Modernizing environmental policy in Canada - the seven principles for making policy "smart green" - A Frontier Policy Series Paper . . .           
Welcome...

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent public policy think tank whose mission is "to broaden the debate on our future through public policy research and education and to explore positive changes within our public institutions that support economic growth and opportunity." ...More

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Upcoming Event
The Coming Healthcare Reform Revolution (Regina)
Dr. Jacques Chaoulli
October 28th, 2008



Mon 06 Oct 2008 15 :09 CST

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Why Our Independence Matters to You

1. No Government Funding

Because we seek to comment objectively on public policy, FCPP is the only registered Prairie-based think tank which declines government grants.

2. Diversified Funding Base

We diversify our funding base as much as possible to ensure that we are not beholden to any particular industry, interest or persons. Individuals and businesses that see value in exploring better policy support FCPP. The bulk of our funding comes from charitable foundations that support public policy work in Canada.

3. Board/Staff Firewall

A respected Board of Research Advisors guarantees the independence and integrity of our work. The Centre has a formal policy, embodied in a Board of Directors resolution, that forbids any direct Board involvement or influence in the Centre's education efforts.

For an objective, arm's length take on public policy you can trust the very independent . . . Frontier Centre for Public Policy.


About Frontier    Get Involved    Speaker's Bureau    Get Frontier Email    Frontier Fax    Media Room    FCPP Toolbox    Low Res SiteHigh Res Site

Fax from the Frontier

Fax from the Frontier" is the fax version of "Notes from the Frontier", the Centre's widely read regular one page public policy commentary (circulated to 5,000 opinion leaders in the Winnipeg calling area). If you would like to add your fax number, change it, or delete it please complete the form below. Please note this service is available only in Winnipeg at this time.


Rural Renaissance Fax

"Rural Renaissance Fax" is the fax version of "Rural Renaissance Notes", the Centre's widely read regular one page rural public policy commentary, which is available and circulated to 1,500 opinion leaders in the Manitoba rural calling area. If you would like to add your fax number, change it, or delete it please complete the form below. Please note this service is available only in the rural Manitoba calling area at this time.


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All content Copyright 2008, The Frontier Centre For Public Policy

Manitoba Office: 203 - 2727 Portage Avenue - Winnipeg, MB Canada R3J 0R2
Tel: (204) 957-1567 Fax: (204) 957-1570

Sask Office: 2353 McIntyre Street - Regina, SK CANADA S4P 2S3
Tel: (306) 352-2915 - Fax: (306) 352-2938

Alberta Office: Ste. 2000 - 444, 5th Avenue SW - Calgary, AB CANADA T2P 2T8
Tel: (403) 230-2435

E-mail: newideas@fcpp.org Homepage: www.fcpp.org


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Upcoming FCPP Events

2008-10-06 - Energy, Climate Change and The War on the Poor (Winnipeg) with Niger Innis, Co-chair of the Alliance to Stop the War on the Poor

2008-10-07 - Energy, Climate Change and The War on the Poor (Calgary) with Niger Innis, Co-chair of the Alliance to Stop the War on the Poor

2008-10-08 - Energy, Climate Change and The War on the Poor (Regina) with Niger Innis, Co-chair of the Alliance to Stop the War on the Poor

2008-10-15 - Opening Up Winnipeg’s Taxi Monopoly (Winnipeg) with Terri Proulx, Project Coordinator for Supporting Employment & Economic Development (SEED)

2008-10-28 - The Coming Healthcare Reform Revolution (Regina) with Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, General Practitioner

2008-10-31 - Sun & Pacific Ocean: Elephants in the Room for Prairie Grain? (Winnipeg) with E. Ray Garnett, Consulting Agro-Climatologist

 
Upcoming FCPP Appearances

Charting the Course of Canadian Healthcare Reform
Speaker: Rebecca Walberg, Director of Health Policy
Date: 2008-11-12
Time: 11:30 a.m..
Place: Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Royal Oak Inn & Suites, Brandon, MB.

Canada's healthcare system outspends and underperforms, compared with the range of systems we see in the European Union. Within Canada, some provinces spend their budgets much more wisely than others, and see better results. How can we take the lessons learned from international and inter-provincial assessments of healthcare performance to design effective reforms that will improve healthcare for all Canadians? Please contact Carolynn Cancade for more details at 204.571.5343.

 
In The News

2008-10-05
Canada's Health Care System-- Poor Value For Your Tax Dollars
Canada's taxpayers are not receiving the same sort of value that their counterparts in other nations are when it comes to universally accessible health care insurance, says Nadeem Esmail, of the Fraser Institute.

For example:

o Canada has the third most-expensive universal access health insurance system; only Iceland and Switzerland spend more as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) on their universal access health insurance systems than Canada did.

o In 2007, waiting lists for access to health care in Canada reached a new all-time high of 18.3 weeks from a general practitioner referral to treatment by a specialist; this wait time is 54 percent longer than the overall wait time of 11.9 weeks back in 1997.

o The number of Canadians without a regular physician is estimated to be around 5 million.

The journal "Health Affairs" recently published a study of six universal access nations, which found:

o Canadians were more likely to experience waiting times of more than six months for elective surgery than Australians, German, the Dutch, and New Zealanders, but slightly less likely than patients in the United Kingdom.

o Canadians were least likely to wait less than one month for elective surgery.

o Canadians were the most likely to wait six days or longer to see a doctor when ill, and were least likely to receive an appointment the same day or the next day.

Access to medical technologies is also relatively poor in Canada:

o Canada ranked 13th of 24 nations in terms of MRI machines per million population.

o Canada ranked 18th of 24 nations for CT scanners per million population, 7th of 17 for mammographs per million population, and tied for second to last among 20 nations for lithotripters per million population.

Source: Nadeem Esmail, "Canada's Health Care System - Poor Value for Your Tax Dollars," Fraser Institute, June 2008.