MLI Newsletter
Vol. IV, No. 8
Nov. 1, 2013

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EVENTS 

 

  
MLI's next Great Canadian Debate

- Mark your calenders -

Nov. 26th,
 2013

 

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BOOKS 

 

   

Northern Light: Lessons for America from Canada's Fiscal Fix

 


The Canadian Century 

   

 

Fearful Symmetry   

 

 

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VIDEO 

  Sven Otto Littorin

 

WATCH:


Former Swedish Minister of Employment, Sven Otto Littorin on the "Swedish Model" for reform of the modern welfare state and what lessons Canada can learn about employment and healthcare

 

 

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In this edition...
First Great Canadian Debate takes place at the War Museum
Calgary Free-Trade Gala to feature James Baker and Derek Burney
MLI report: Tough regulations on payment cards no way to help consumers or merchants
MLI's Cross in the Post: What war on science?
MLI Leading Economic Indicator shows across-the-board gains in September
MLI's Crowley in the Citizen on how Taiwan deals with China
Walter Willett joins MLI staff
Crowley and Coates on Aboriginal unrest in the Globe
Other MLI opinion articles and columns
First Great Canadian Debate takes place
at the War Museum

On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 24 at the War Museum, MLI kicked off the 2013-14 season of the  Great Canadian Debates in front of a large and engaged crowd. The debate featured issues that are of primary importance to Canadians - energy, the environment and the economy - and was moderated by former House Speaker Peter Milliken. The resolution was "President Obama should welcome Canada's ethical oil". The debate was broadcast on CPAC and the following day the Ottawa Citizen carried op-eds based on the opening arguments of the two debaters, author and journalist Andrew Nikiforuk and former Alberta energy minister Ted Morton. For pictures from the evening click here.

 

The audience Q&A produced a number of thoughtful questions and one heated exchange, between Nikiforuk and audience member MP Robert Sopuck, reported by iPolitics.

 

The next Great Canadian Debate takes place Nov. 26 and will see professor Tom Flanagan and economist Jim Stanford argue the resolution: "The right to strike has no place in the public service".

 

 

 

 


Click here to purchase tickets to the
next Great Canadian Debate

Calgary Free-Trade Gala to feature
James Baker and Derek Burney 
 

Exactly 25 years ago, Canadians were voting on a proposal to sign a free-trade deal with the Americans. To celebrate the occasion the Macdonald-Laurier Institute is hosting a gala dinner in Calgary featuring a discussion between the two key negotiators of that deal, Derek Burney, then chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and James Baker III, former U.S. secretary of state and chief of staff to President George Bush. It's a great opportunity for the business and political community in Calgary to come together and celebrate the historic achievement in signing the deal and having it ratified by the electorate. For tickets, click here.

 

 

MLI Report: Tough regulations on payment cards no way to help consumers and merchants
 

 

In a new report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a team of prestigious authors finds that there is no evidence that proposed regulations on payment cards in the Canadian market will help lower-income consumers or small merchants, as proponents claim, and will likely hurt them. Proposed interchange fee regulations, interference with surcharging rules, and restrictions on the "honour-all-cards" rule would cause consumers to face considerably higher banking costs, while paying the same for their consumer goods, the paper, titled "Credit where it's due"  demonstrates. The paper was the subject of this story in the Ottawa Citizen. 

 

MLI's Cross in the Post: What war on science?

The Canadian government has every right to control what its employees, scientists included, tell the press, writes Macdonald-Laurier Institute senior fellow Philip Cross in the Financial Post.  While opponents of the government have latched on to a term from the American debate, the "War on Science", there is little similarity between Stephen Harper's policies and those of George W. Bush. "Asked to provide concrete examples of government punishment to scientists, critics resort to the lame response of 'implied threats,' which is about as scientific as fearing the bogeyman hiding under your bed", writes Cross.

 

MLI Leading Economic Indicator shows
across-the-board gains in September
  

 

The Macdonald-Laurier composite leading index increased 0.4% for the second consecutive month in September as all nine components contributed to the increase.  It was the first across-the-board advance since March 2011. "These gains point to a pick-up in economic activity extending into 2014," said Philip Cross, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), who produces the index. The housing index in September continued to lead growth with a 2.7% hike, the result of higher housing starts and existing home sales. This was the fifth straight month of sizeable advances in housing, Mr. Cross said. However, the housing index remained below its peak reached in the summer of 2012.

 
MLI's Crowley in the Citizen on how Taiwan deals with China

In the Ottawa Citizen, MLI managing director Brian Lee Crowley writes about what Canada can learn from how Taiwan deals with the rise of China in global affairs. "It is in China's interests that Taiwan prospers because that prosperity redounds to China's benefit," writes Crowley, who was visiting the region.

 

Walter Willett joins MLI staff

MLI is pleased to announce the addition of Walter Willett to the team as director of operations. Walter joins MLI following a career working in the non-for-profit sector in progressively senior management roles with several of Canada's largest national trade associations. A native of New Richmond in the Gasp�sie region of Quebec, Walter is a proud alumnus of Bishop's University and an avid history buff. Following university Walter spent four years in Vancouver and has lived and worked in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. At MLI Willett oversees the institute's day-to-day operations, fund raising activities, events planning and business development activities.

 

Crowley and Coates on Aboriginal unrest in the Globe

In the Globe and Mail, MLI managing director Brian Lee Crowley and senior fellow Ken Coates write that Aboriginal unrest like we've seen in New Brunswick will continue until Canada begins to get it right on engaging aboriginal peoples in the natural resource economy. "In the absence of formal structures and processes - modern treaties or other political arrangements - the disadvantages of conflicts over resource development fall disproportionately on the aboriginal communities, which do not have the financial and technical capabilities of the resource companies and governments," they write.

 

Other MLI opinion articles and columns

 

In an op-ed on NationalNewsWatch.com, the Hon. Peter Milliken, moderator of the 2013-14 season of the Great Canadian Debates, sets up the resolution "President Obama should welcome Canada's ethical oil." He writes that the nation is divided between those who support the development of the oil sands that the Keystone XL pipeline will serve, while providing a secure source of oil to the U.S., and those who see nothing ethical about irreparably damaging the environment for financial gain.

 

In the Globe and Mail, MLI managing director Brian Lee Crowley writes about the urgent need for western nations to bind China to a set of fair trade rules "while the rest of the trading world still enjoys a strong negotiating position. Given current trends, that strength is rapidly dissipating." China has flouted various aspects of international trading systems, but "we are rapidly moving into a very different world, where almost every major country will have China, not its closest neighbours, as its largest trading partner," writes Crowley.

 

In the Ottawa Citizen, MLI managing director Brian Lee Crowley writes that the "scandal" involving accusations of Canadian electronic spying on trading partner Brazil appears to be "a damp squib". "Even if there is more convincing evidence than this of Canada's spying to come, so what?" writes Crowley. "I am comforted, not alarmed, that the government of Canada might want to know what our friends, competitors and enemies are doing that might affect our interests."

 

Writing in the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab blog, MLI senior fellow Linda Nazareth examines differences in wages between workers aged 60 to 74 and those who are younger. Do older workers' higher salaries mean they are more productive? "Thing is, using wages as a measure of productivity can be a bit of stretch", writes Nazareth. The truth is more complicated.

 

 

 
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The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. It initiates and conducts research identifying current and emerging economic and public policy issues facing Canadians.

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