Study
| EST. READ TIME 2 MIN.Fraser Forum - September 2009: Canada's Labour Market
In this issue:
Highlights of the 2009 Petroleum Survey
by Gerry Angevine
Manitoba is now the most attractive Canadian province for petroleum investment, while Alberta is the least attractive.
Smart thinking on sales taxes
by Niels Veldhuis and Charles Lammam
British Columbia’s new harmonized sales tax will encourage investment in the province and make BC businesses more competitive.
Real electoral reform
by Mark Milke
Canadians who are interested in electoral reform may want to consider Switzerland as a model.
An insurance proposal that doesn’t work
by Niels Veldhuis and Amela Karabegovic
A more generous EI program would increase unemployment permanently.
Labour relations laws
by Amela Karabegovic and Alex Gainer
Canada’s provincial and federal labour relations laws are significantly more biased and prescriptive than US laws.
BC avoids the damaging effects of minimum wage increases
by Charles Lammam and Niels Veldhuis
Unlike many other North American jurisdictions, British Columbia has steered clear of raising its minimum wage this year.
The end of free choice?
by Amela Karabegovic and Niels Veldhuis
A card-check system of union certification robs workers of a secret ballot vote, a cornerstone of the democratic process.
Key Concepts: Competition
by Lawrence W. Reed
A competitive marketplace encourages innovation and excellence.
Waiting for new medicines in Canada
by Mark Rovere and Brett J. Skinner
Canadians who are dependent on public drug programs wait almost two years for access to new medicines.
NATO’s new mission statement
by Alan W. Dowd
NATO’s new Strategic Concept will help shape the alliance’s future.
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Niels Veldhuis
President, Fraser Institute
Niels Veldhuis serves as President of the Fraser Institute, Canada’s most influential think tank.In his over 20-plus-year career in publicpolicy, Niels has authored six books and more than 50 peer-reviewed studies on a wide range of economic topics. In 2011, he was awarded (along with his co-authors) the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the best-selling book, The Canadian Century.Highly regarded for his opinions and perspectives on major economic and social issues, Niels appears regularly in the media across Canada and the United States. He has written hundreds of commentaries that have appeared in over 50 newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal, National Post, and The Economist.Known for his ability to explain matters of economics and government policy in a down-to-earth and easily understood manner, Niels travels widely across North America. His speaking engagements extend to diverse audiences, including business groups, corporate gatherings, community organizations, and students.Niels has had the privilege of sharing the stage and moderating discussions with prominent business and political leaders from around the world. Notable individuals include Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and BC Premier Gordon Campbell. He has also moderated discussions with distinguished Canadian journalists such as Chantal Herbert, Andrew Coyne, and Rex Murphy, as well as diplomats such as Canada’s Ambassador to China and Israel’s Ambassador to Canada. Niels moderated a discussion between United States Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in 2011 and has facilitated conversations with impactful authors like Mosab Hassan Yousef (author of "Son of Hamas") and Lord Conrad Black.Niels Veldhuis is an alumnus of Simon Fraser University, was one of Vancouver’s Top 40 under 40 by Business in Vancouver in 2010, and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).… Read more -
Charles Lammam
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Alan Dowd
Senior Fellow, Fraser InstituteAlan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute, Senior Editor of Fraser Insight and Managing Director ofthe Institute's EFNA Network. In addition, Dowd conducts research into defence and security issues. He co-authored the Fraser Institute report Cybersecurity Challenges for Canada and the United States; has contributed to the Institute’s Economic Freedom of North America Annual Report (EFNA); helped launch the Institute’s EFNA Network in 2014; and continues to manage and coordinate the EFNA Network, which today enfolds more than 60 member-organizations in 47 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. An award-winning writer, Dowd is a frequent contributor to American Legion Magazine, Military Officer, The American, Landing Zone, and American Outlook. In addition, his writing has appeared in Fraser Forum, Claremont Review of Books, Policy Review, Parameters, Journal of Diplomacy & International Relations, Diplomat & International Canada, World Politics Review, World & I, National Post, Baltimore Sun, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Indianapolis Star, Detroit News, Vancouver Sun, Wall Street Journal Europe, Jerusalem Post, Financial Times Deutschland, and the online editions of the American Interest, National Review, and Weekly Standard. Dowd has served as an adjunct professor at Butler University and Anderson University; was a founding member of the Sagamore Institute leadership team, where he continues to hold a senior fellow post; and was director of Hudson Institute’s corporate headquarters. He earned a B.A. with departmental high honors from Butler University and an M.A. from Indiana University.… Read more -
Gerry Angevine
Senior Fellow, Fraser InstituteGerry Angevine is Senior Fellow in the Fraser Institute's Centre for Energy and Natural Resource Studies. Mr. Angevine has beenPresident of AECL, an energy economics consulting firm, since 1999 and was a Managing Consultant with Navigant Consulting Ltd. from 2001 to 2004. He was President, CEO, and a Director of the Canadian Energy Research Institute from 1979 to 1999. Prior to that, he worked as an economist at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and the Bank of Canada. Mr. Angevine has undertaken domestic and international studies in the markets for natural gas (including trade, pipelines and storage), oil and oil products (including oil sands, refining and investment), and electricity (including deregulation, water rentals, and renewables). He has advised the Alberta Department of Energy and testified before the National Energy Board as an expert witness. He has A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of Michigan, a M.A. Economics degree from Dalhousie University and a B.Comm. from Mount Allison University.… Read more -
Amela Karabegovic
Amela Karabegovi is a former Senior Economist of the Fraser Institute. She holds a B.M. (Great Distinction) in General Managementfrom the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and an M.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. She was a coauthor of the Economic Freedom of North America , Economic Freedom of the Arab World , Myths and Realities of TILMA , Transparency of Labour Relations Boards in Canada and the United States , Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States , Measuring the Flexibility of Labour Relations Laws in Canada and the United States , Tax and Expenditure Limitations: The Next Step in Fiscal Discipline , and the Prosperity Series-Ontario .… Read more -
Alex Gainer
Alex Gainer was a Research Economist in the Fiscal Studies Department at The Fraser Institute. He worked on a rangeof policy issues including labour relations, government failure, business creation and charitable giving. Mr. Gainer is coauthor of Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2008 Generosity Index, as well as Saskatchewan Prosperity: Building on Success. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Alberta and a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of British Columbia.… Read more -
Brett J. Skinner
Brett J. Skinner Dr. Brett J. Skinner was the Fraser Institutes Director of Health Policy Research (2004 to 2012) andwas also the Institutes President and CEO (2010 and 2012). Dr. Skinner has a B.A. from the University of Windsor, an M.A. through joint studies between the University of Windsor and Wayne State University in Detroit (Michigan), and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario, where he has lectured in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Political Science. Dr. Skinner has authored or co-authored approximately 50 major original pieces of applied economics and public policy research. In 2003 he was a co-winner of the Atlas Economic Research Foundations Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award for innovative projects in public policy. Dr. Skinners book, Canadian Health Policy Failures: Whats wrong? Who gets hurt? Why nothing changes, was a finalist for Atlas 2009 Fisher book prize. His research has been published through several think-tanks including the Fraser Institute (Vancouver), the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (Halifax), the Pacific Research Institute (San Francisco), the American Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research (Israel). His work has also been published in several academic journals including Economic Affairs, Pharmacoeconomics and Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Dr. Skinner appears and is cited frequently as an expert in the Canadian, American, and global media. He has presented his research at conferences and events around the world, including testifying before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health in Ottawa, and briefing bi-partisan Congressional policy staff at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.… Read more -
Mark Milke
Mark Milke was a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute between 2010 and 2015. Mr. Milke led the Institute’s workon Alberta-related issues as well as contributing to a broad host of national and regional studies. Mr. Milke is currently an independent analyst and consultant in Calgary.Mr. Milke has authored four books on Canadian politics and policy and dozens of studies on topics such as property rights, public sector pensions, corporate welfare, competition policy, aboriginal matters and taxes. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute, Mr. Milke was the research director for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and former B.C. and Alberta director with the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation. His work has been published widely in Canada since 1997 and in addition to the Fraser Institute, his papers have also been published in the United States by the American Enterprise Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation and in Europe by the Brussels-based Centre for European Studies.Mr. Milke’s opinion columns appear regularly in the Calgary Herald and Globe and Mail, as well as in the National Post, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, and Victoria Times Colonist. Mr. Milke has a Master’s degree from the University of Alberta where his M.A. thesis analyzed human rights in East Asia; he also has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Calgary where his doctoral dissertation analyzed the rhetoric of Canadian-American relations. Mr. Milke is president of Civitas, and a past lecturer in Political Philosophy and International Relations at the University of Calgary.… Read more -
Mark Rovere
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Lawrence Reed
Lawrence W. Reed is President of the Foundation for Economic Education and President Emeritus of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.