Latest news with #FraserInstitute
Cision Canada
4 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
Due to spending restraint Calgary and Edmonton spend significantly less per person than Alberta's highest-spending municipalities
CALGARY, AB, Aug. 7, 2025 /CNW/ - The per-person municipal government spending levels in Calgary and Edmonton—Alberta's largest and most populous cities—are near the average spending level of the province's major municipalities, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. "While there's always room for improvement, the municipal governments in Calgary and Edmonton have done a better job at restraining spending than many other municipalities in Alberta," said Austin Thompson, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and author of Comparing Per-Person Expenditure and Revenue in Major Albertan Municipalities, 2009-2023. According to the study, which compares the finances of 25 Alberta municipalities, in 2023 (the latest year of comparable data), Edmonton ($3,241) and Calgary ($3,144) spent close to the per-person spending average ($3,239) among the 25 municipalities, and significantly less than the highest spenders, which include Grande Prairie County ($5,413), Red Deer County ($4,619) and Lethbridge ($4,423). Subsequently, in terms of per-person spending, Edmonton ranked 12 th highest and Calgary ranked 13 th highest. Moreover, despite significant population growth, both cities restrained spending. From 2009 to 2023, Edmonton's population grew by 38.2 per cent and Calgary's population grew by 33.7 per cent, yet per-person spending (after adjusting for inflation) grew by 4.8 per cent in Edmonton and 2.1 per cent in Calgary. "It's ultimately up to Albertans to decide if they get good value for their municipal tax dollars, but it helps to compare spending levels among municipalities across the province," said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal policy at the Fraser Institute. Municipal government spending per person in Alberta (2023) Municipality spending per person rank of 25 Grande Prairie County $5,413 1 Red Deer County $4,619 2 Lethbridge $4,423 3 Canmore $4,154 4 Strathcona County $4,106 5 Red Deer $3,788 6 Cold Lake $3,646 7 Leduc $3,452 8 Rocky View County $3,419 9 Grande Prairie $3,342 10 Fort Saskatchewan $3,259 11 Edmonton $3,241 12 Calgary $3,144 13 Parkland County $3,141 14 St. Albert $3,129 15 Sylvan Lake $2,859 16 Spruce Grove $2,760 17 Camrose $2,744 18 Stony Plain $2,695 19 Beaumont $2,626 20 Foothills County $2,570 21 Okotoks $2,456 22 Airdrie $2,187 23 Cochrane $2,142 24 Chestermere $1,652 25 Municipal government average $3,239 Note: This ranking excludes Medicine Hat due to its unique status as the only Alberta municipality operating both an electricity and natural gas utility. Further details are available in the study. The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit SOURCE The Fraser Institute
Cision Canada
5 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
Despite renewed promises of budget balance, Queens Park has a track record of missing fiscal targets resulting in mounting debt
TORONTO, Aug. 6, 2025 /CNW/ - The Ontario government now forecasts it will finally balance the province's operating budget by 2027, but given the current government's history of missing its own fiscal targets, it's questionable whether this one will be achieved, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. "The current Ontario government initially ran on a campaign to get the province's finances back on track, but unfortunately, it has developed a pattern of running large deficits and blowing past its own deficit and borrowing targets, just like the previous government," said Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Hold the Celebration on Ontario's Finances (Again!). The study shows that the government of Ontario has repeatedly failed to meet its deficit and borrowing targets and has presented three different planned dates for eliminating its deficit in the last three budgets. After having run deficits every year except one since 2007, the Ontario government now forecasts it will not balance its operating budget until 2027/28. However, the government has a history of missing its fiscal targets. For example: In 2023, the government forecast a balance budget by 2024 with an operating surplus of $2.2 billion. In 2024, instead of a balanced budget, the government ran a substantial deficit of $8.8 billion, and it revised its balanced budget target to 2026, with a surplus in that year of $2.5 billion. This year, instead of a balanced budget in 2026, the government now forecasts a deficit of $5.8 billion and has once again pushed out the balanced budget target to 2027, when it forecasts a $2.2 billion surplus. "The Ontario government's track record of missing its fiscal targets has resulted in a substantial run-up in provincial debt, which is now estimated to exceed half a trillion dollars in 2027/28," Eisen said. Ontario's finances have deteriorated significantly over the last few decades, and it will take prudent fiscal management—not missed targets and moving goal posts—to get them back on track." The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Halifax and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit
Newsroom
7 days ago
- Business
- Newsroom
NZ now one of the most attractive nations for mining investment
Pro-industry policies have shot New Zealand up the rankings of the world's most mining-friendly countries, according to a survey carried out by a Canadian think tank. New Zealand appeared in 12th spot on the Investment Attractiveness Index in the Fraser Institute's annual Survey of Mining Companies for 2024.
National Observer
02-08-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
A Canadian researcher was 'indispensible' to helping Trump dismantle climate action
A Canadian economist and conservative columnist who recently called Prime Minister Mark Carney a "climate zealot" played a critical role in the Trump administration's push to eradicate US climate rules. Ross McKitrick, an associate professor at the University of Guelph and a senior fellow at libertarian thinktank the Fraser Institute, was one of five co-authors recruited by US Energy Secretary Christ Wright to author a 150-page US Department of Energy (DOE) report that undermined the US government's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. He was "indispensible" to the project, wrote co-author and climate denier Roy Spencer in his blog. The report argues "CO2-induced warming appears to be less economically damaging than commonly believed," and "mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial." The report was published last week as part of the Trump administration's proposal to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's Endangerment Finding — the legal mechanism underpinning most US climate legislation. Eliminating the finding, a longstanding goal of climate deniers, lets the government undermine standards that limit emissions, including from oil and gas operations, power plants and landfills. There is a widespread scientific consensus that human activity, mostly burning fossil fuels, is the main driver of climate change. That finding was backed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the European Climate Risk Assessment, and the US's Fifth National Climate Risk Assessment, published during the Biden era. Bill McKibben, the prominent climate scientist, journalist, climate advocate and co-founder of told Canada's National Observer McKitrick's involvement is a rare example of climate denial flowing from Canada to the US. "I suppose it's proof that once in a while the damage goes the other way across the border," he said. If the Trump administration successfully eradicates all US climate measures, the country is projected to emit an extra seven billion tons of greenhouse gases between now and 2030 — like adding an additional 10 Canadas to the world's emissions. A Canadian economist and conservative columnist who recently called Prime Minister Mark Carney a "climate zealot" played a critical role in the Trump administration's push to eradicate US climate rules. McKitrick has been downplaying the impacts of climate change and bolstering the fossil fuel industry for decades. As far back as 2000, he joined a briefing by the so-called "Cooler Heads Coalition," a group with close ties to the oil industry, to criticize the IPCC's Third Assessment Report. "The inclusion of Ross McKitrick, whose work is widely debunked and who isn't even American, tells you just how hard it is to find researchers who will question the overwhelming scientific consensus on carbon dioxide emissions and climate change," said Simon Donner, a climate scientist at the University of British Columbia and a lead author on the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. As the conversation continued around climate change, McKitrick continued to publicly criticize climate science and renewable energy throughout the 2000s and 2010s through his work writing reports for the Fraser Institute and other thinktanks, in news media and as a public speaker. In 2020 he published an op-ed for Troy Media that claims we must ' fight climate extremists before they upend society" and slammed Canada's then-proposed plastic pollution rules for imposing " costs and inconvenience … while doing nothing to fix the [pollution] problem." He remains a prominent voice against climate action, contributing climate-skeptical columns to the Financial Post, the National Post and the oil and gas outlet Energy Now. He also continues to write for conservative thinktanks, including a 2025 report for the Fraser Institute that concludes achieving Canada's net zero goals isn't worth the economic and social cost. A spokesperson for the US DOE said in an emailed statement that McKitrick and his co-authors, the prominent climate contrarians John Christy, Judith Curry, Steve Koonin and Roy Spencer, "represent diverse viewpoints and political backgrounds." Wright, the US energy secretary, wrote in the report's preface that "media coverage often distorts the science" on climate, pushing "many people [to] walk away with a view of climate change that is exaggerated or incomplete. To provide clarity and balance, I asked a diverse team of independent experts to critically review the current state of climate science. "I've reviewed the report carefully, and I believe it faithfully represents the state of climate science today. Still, many readers may be surprised by its conclusions — which differ in important ways from the mainstream narrative," Wright, a former oil and gas executive, continued. In February, Wright described the global effort against climate change as "sinister" and a "tool used to grow government power [and], top-down control, and shrink human freedom' while speaking at Jordan Peterson's Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference. A few weeks later, he attacked Biden-era climate measures as a "quasi-religious' agenda 'that imposed endless sacrifices on our citizens.' Climate experts have slammed the new DOE report. Ben Sanderson, senior researcher on climate mitigation at the Centre for International Climate Research (CICERO) in Oslo, dismantled the paper in a thread on Bluesky. The "tiny" list of authors and lack of external peer-review undermines the report's credibility, he wrote. (Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change usually contain contributions from hundreds of authors.) McKitrick and his co-authors presented "minority contrarian viewpoints" by "isolating specific talking points and presenting them as a comprehensive assessment. "Each chapter follows the same pattern. Establish a contrarian position, cherry-pick evidence to support that position, then claim that this position is under-represented in climate literature and the IPCC in particular. Include a bunch of references, most of which don't support the central argument," he wrote. In a Tuesday post on X, McKitrick claimed that he and his co-authors weren't involved in designing the government's push to repeal the Endangerment Finding and "only knew what was in the news." However, the post links to blog posts by his co-authors Curry and Spencer where they address the key policy head-on: Spencer wrote that the group"suspected the Endangerment Finding would be the topic of greatest interest" to the Trump administration when they were commissioned to write the report. Curry wrote that "the looming US policy issue is the EPA Endangerment Finding" and that she hopes the report will break "Breaking the link between energy policy and human-caused climate change".
Winnipeg Free Press
02-08-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba slides down mining sector investment attractiveness list: report
Manitoba's attractiveness to mining investors has dropped, a new report by a conservative think tank states. The keystone province made the Fraser Institute's top-10 list of most attractive jurisdictions for mineral endowment. However, the 2024 Annual Survey of Mining Companies — released earlier this week — places Manitoba 26th of 82 jurisdictions for investment attractiveness. A year prior, Manitoba ranked sixth of 86. The Tanco lithium mine near Lac du Bonnet. (Sinomine Resource Group / Free Press files) 'It's just a wake-up call that there are some outstanding issues that need to be addressed,' said John Morris, co-director of the Mining Association of Manitoba. Survey respondents cited increased concerns about Manitoba's community development conditions, political stability and uncertainty over what areas will be protected, the report reads. Morris said it aligns with what he's heard from junior firms that don't yet have operational mines. Hesitation stems, in part, from the New Democrats' 2023 promise to protect 30 per cent of Manitoba's lands and waters by 2030, Morris said. 'They do not know whether certain areas will become off limits for future mining projects,' he continued. 'If you're trying to plan a 30-year project … you will want to know in the early days whether where you're exploring is going to be put into a protected area or not.' Mine production often follows a decade of research and exploration, Morris noted. Policy interpretation of Manitoba's heritage resource permits and requirements is a long-standing issue, he added. Morris expressed confidence the industry's concerns will be addressed: 'Our association has a very good working relationship with the provincial government.' Politicians have touted Manitoba as the 'Costco of critical minerals,' referring to the variety of goods available at the big-box retailer. Manitoba has 30 of 34 minerals deemed critical. It has four active mines producing zinc, copper, gold, nickel, tantalum, cesium and lithium. Provincial mining minister Jamie Moses underscored the Fraser Institute report's timeline: the survey was conducted August-December 2024. Since the feedback window's tail end, the NDP has released a critical mineral strategy, opened a critical mineral office and a new gold mine, Moses said. (The Alamos Gold mine near Lynn Lake was being developed during the Progressive Conservatives' most recent reign.) 'Our government takes seriously the economic opportunity we have in our critical minerals sector,' Moses said. Environmental safety is also taken seriously, he said. He deferred to the province's environment minister when asked about a map or other means of transparency to show which areas will be conserved by 2030. There's been 'a lot of discussion' about the Seal River Watershed, Moses noted. Government and Indigenous leaders are pursuing a formal designation to turn the watershed, which is 50,000 square kilometres, into an protected area; it follows a year-long assessment. 'We know that we can do more than one thing at one time,' Moses said. 'That includes being able to advance mineral projects and also ensure that we have the right environmental sustainability approach.' Lauren Stone, PC finance critic, said the report shows the New Democrats have demonstrated they're 'anti-development and have created an anti-business rhetoric.' Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'Manitoba should be very concerned when we have almost equivalent the number of critical minerals here … to Saskatchewan.' Saskatchewan ranked seventh on the Fraser Institute's list for investor attractiveness. It touts 27 critical minerals within its borders. The 86-page report incorporates 350 responses from mining and exploration companies. Finland was crowned the top jurisdiction based on investment attractiveness. The Fraser Institute ranked every province and territory except for Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Yukon also ranked ahead of Manitoba in investment attractiveness, the report says. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
