It makes me glad to see this sort of thing. The more people that condemn this sort of primitive behaviour the better. I am glad that Canada has such leaders in its Muslim community. Canadian imams plan to condemn the “misguided notion” of so-called honor killings in their Friday sermons this week, responding to the [...]
Category Archives: Hugh MacIntyre
Flaherty demands veto power over bank decisions
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 8, 2011 4 comments
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is arguing that he should have more power over what banks do because if the banks screw up it is Ottawa that is “on the hook.” Of course it doesn’t occur to him that Ottawa isn’t actually “on the hook” in the sense that the government HAS to bail out banks. [...]
The one big problem with the Canada-USA border agreement
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 7, 2011 5 comments
The CBC lists 6 things that we can expect to be in the new border agreement between Canada and the USA that is being announced today. Of those 6 items I support without hesitation 5 of them. The first on the list, however, gives me pause. 1. Better aligned regulations: Canada and the U.S. still [...]
The LCBO and the neo-prohibitionists
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 7, 2011 1 comment
Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan defended the board of the LCBO with words such as “competent” but at the same time he endorsed Auditor General Jim McCarter’s criticism that the LCBO doesn’t do enough to negotiate lower prices. I suspect that Mr. Duncan is thinking about the deficit and realizes that perhaps the LCBO cash [...]
The LCBO screws consumers with baffling business practice
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 5, 2011 6 comments
One of the arguments often made in favour of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s monopoly is that, by being the world’s largest single purchaser, it can negotiate discounts with suppliers. This argument deserves a great deal of skepticism. After all it isn’t like alcohol is particularly cheap at the LCBO. It turns out that [...]
The core of the European crisis is a lack of economic freedom
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 1, 2011 Comments Off
As the Greek crisis rapidly turn into the European crisis there is a scramble by world leaders to “fix it.” Of course it isn’t that easy because the real crisis in Europe is a systemic one; the real downfall of Europe is a lack of economic freedom and it isn’t going to be easy for [...]
Randy Hillier pushing to end pit bull ban
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 1, 2011 Comments Off
Randy Hillier is leading the charge to repeal one of Dalton McGuinty’s many bans, the ban on pit bulls. He is being joined by MPPs from both the Liberal Party and the NDP. Considering the multiparty nature of this move and the minority parliament, I am pretty hopeful that it will get through. The pit [...]
Government fails and the Happy Meal lives on
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 30, 2011 Comments Off
Government regulators are all too often convinced that they know how we as individuals should live our lives and raise our children. At the same time most regulators are incredibly incompetent at getting people to do what they want. Take this recent case in San Francisco as an example: In order to include a toy [...]
Excercising is not a risk free investment
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 29, 2011 2 comments
In response to a survey that says Canadians don’t feel they have the time to work out, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada seems to want people to view exercise as an investment. If you spend time working out you will ultimately gain more time by living longer. Like any investment, however, this is [...]
Marijuana problem: Parents do want it legal
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 25, 2011 15 comments
Kelly Egan authored a column in the Ottawa Citizen that claims that “ordinary people” don’t want pot legalized. I suppose it Egan world “ordinary” is the minority of people because fifty-three per cent of people do want it legalized. I’m pretty sure that 1 or 2 of that fifty-three per cent are parents, and so [...]
Freedom of Religion should not be in our constitution
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 24, 2011 8 comments
Federal Court Judge Michel Shore dismissed Christopher Bennett’s claim that, for him, marijuana is a holy sacrament and thus him smoking it is protected under the Charter as a freedom of religion. Judge Shore said that Mr. Bennett’s pot smoking is a “life style choice.” Yes it is a life style choice, but so are [...]
CD Howe fiddles while Canada’s health care system burns
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 18, 2011 Comments Off
Don Drummond, through the CD Howe Institute, has recently published a paper on Canada’s Health Care system. It is an interesting piece of work. The interest is not so much because of the conclusions it reaches, there isn’t much there that’s new or innovative, but because it is an example of what is wrong with [...]
Federal government’s pension proposal is better than CPP expansion
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 17, 2011 Comments Off
The federal government is set to announce today a new method for Canadians to save and invest for their retirement. I am unsure about the details of this plan and I imagine that I could easily find something objectionable about it once I learn the details, but it is already clear that it is better [...]
Occupy Toronto has no right to St. James Park
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 16, 2011 7 comments
On Tuesday the City of Toronto issued eviction notices to the Occupiers at St. James Park, I am sure in response to my post on Monday. A group of the Occupiers went to a judge for an injunction claiming that the eviction would violate their charter rights. The judge put a stay on the enforcement [...]
Giving up agriculture supply management to join free trade group
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 15, 2011 Comments Off
So let me get this straight. In order to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade group Canada will have to agree to stop a policy that makes common foods more expensive. I think this has to be the very definition of win-win. Of course the caveat is that Canada won’t have to eliminate supply management [...]
Note to Rob Ford: either deal with Occupy Toronto, or shutup
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 14, 2011 Comments Off
For a week or so I have been reading articles like this one where Rob Ford says that the Occupation at St. James Park is illegal and at some point the law will be enforced. When asked at what point the law will be enforced he says that it will be soon. Then he claims [...]
More corporate welfare in the UK
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 10, 2011 Comments Off
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has announced today that he will be spending an additional £95 million in corporate welfare. This will apparently create more jobs and grow small and medium businesses (presumably if this program is really successful these businesses will become large and thus will no longer qualify for government support). It just [...]
The new Ontario minority Parliament may turn out alright
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 9, 2011 Comments Off
This article from the Toronto Star has given me the clearest vision, thus far, on how the new Liberal minority government can be made to work for the benefit of Ontarians. Tim Hudak is pushing for the government to make some cuts and the Liberal government appears to be agreeing to work with the PC [...]
Flaherty confirms that the budget will not be balanced in 2014
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 8, 2011 Comments Off
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced that the deficit will not be eliminated as quickly as the government had promised. The plan to get out of deficit was based on an assumption that the economy will continue to improve at a certain rate. As has become increasingly clear the economy is not going to improve [...]
In America the rich is not a closed caste
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 8, 2011 5 comments
Pundits and Occupiers talk about the rich or the “super rich” as if they were a closed caste. They seem to think that the wealthy in America are the product of generation after generation of rich families. It is true that some of the wealthy members of American society can trace their wealthy ancestors to [...]