Tag Archives: canada
Another Update: Twitter and the Federal Election
Well, the federal election Leader's debate on Thursday evening was in the end a rather disappointing affair. It was essentially a series of thrusts, parries and spins on taxation, housing, immigration, energy, etc…but left out in the entire debate was any fundamental recognition of what I think is a major issue facing the future prosperity […]
Lumbering Along in the Finding Data Process
Well, all I was trying to do was introduce a set of lecture slides on the nineteenth century timber trade with a simple overview of the Canadian logging industry's employment in the twentieth century. Well, three hours later it has proven to be a more frustrating exercise than I would have expected but here is […]
Update: Twitter and the Canadian Federal Election
Well it is just over two weeks since I began tracking the number of Twitter followers that each federal party leader has during the course of the current election capmpaign in order to see what the impact of this type of social media presence might be. All of the party leaders have increased their number […]
Making Change?
Alex Usher at Higher Education Strategy Associates had a great post on his One Thought Blog today dealing with policy-making and change. His comparison to policy-making in Ottawa as a slow stately moving river compared to Washington's high-pressure ice jam was pretty entertaining – he only left out that parts of the policy making river […]
Twitter Followers and Canada’s Federal Election
Well, I thought it was time to resurrect an activity I last did a number of years ago – in 2011 – during an Ontario election campaign. I tracked the number of Twitter followers each party leader had during the course of the election to see if the electoral outcome was correlated with social media […]
The Great Convergence: Federal Transfer Revenue Shares 1980/81 to 2013/14
Well the Council of the Federation began meeting in St. John’s yesterday and given we are on the cusp of a federal election, there will no doubt be a targeting of Ottawa’s role in provincial finances. Naturally, there will be some lamentations about the Prime Minister’s absence – once again – from this annual meeting. […]
Great Recession Versus Great Depression for Canada
With all the doom and gloom with respect to slowing Canadian economic growth and talk of secular stagnation, it is useful to look at a comparison between the last few years in Canada with what transpired during the Great Depression. References are often made that the 2008-09 Recession and its aftermath is a period comparable […]
The Growth of the Local Public Sector
The rising expense of local government services is increasingly capturing the attention of pundits and policy makers alike. The rising cost of policing and fire services in particular and their effects on local budgets and ratepayers, has drawn the attention of Canadian municipal leaders. What is also interesting is the overall growth in local government […]
Funding the gerontocracy
This year, the per-vote subsidy once enjoyed by Canadian political parties ends. Parties will have to raise funds entirely through donations. So, who gives? There is a generous federal tax credit for political donations, worth 75 percent of the first $400 donated, 50 percent of the next $350, and 33 percent of remaining donations. The federal tax credit […]
A Resource Bust and Yet…
The OECD has cut its growth forecast for Canada citing the drop in oil and commodity prices. With all the talk about the slowdown in the Canadian economy picking up steam and slow growth as a result of the drop in oil prices that began last spring, one might expect some job losses to start […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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