Should union membership be optional?
John Mortimer, the president of the Canadian LabourWatch Association says yes As Canada is a signatory to UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our answer should be yes. Article [...]
Dialogue
Dialogue
Is Poverty the Individual’s Fault?
CHRIS SARLO The economics professor at Nipissing University and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute SAYS YES I’ll answer yes—with two qualifications. First, the setting in which I believe [...]
Should there be mandatory minimum sentences?
Lisa Silver The U of C assistant professor of law says no Our legal system is a reflection of who we are as a society. The values at the core of that system promote fairness and justice. These [...]
Is Home Schooling in the Public Interest?
paul van den bosch says YES Many studies and a wealth of evidence show that home education is academically and socially good for the student and also benefits their family. The proof is in [...]
Should Vaccinations Be Mandatory?
DR. UBAKA OGBOGU SAYS YES. In March 2016 over 100 people were exposed to measles—a serious, vaccine-preventable disease—at Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. The source of the [...]
Are More Pipelines in the Public Interest?
David Hughes says no. We are repeatedly told by the Trudeau government that we must meet our Paris climate change commitments and at the same time ramp up oil and gas production and build [...]
Should Jury Selection Be Changed?
Steven Penney says yes. Imagine receiving a jury summons in the mail. You dutifully report to the courthouse and wait patiently for the selection process to unfold. When your name is [...]
Should All Drugs Be Decriminalized?
Hakique Virani says yes. Twelve-step addiction recovery programs teach that it is irrational to “do the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” This should be a lesson [...]
Alberta’s $15 Minimum Wage
Ian Hussey anticipates benefits. Alberta’s minimum wage was tied for Canada’s lowest when Rachel Notley became premier. On October 1 it will rise to $15 an hour—a 47 per cent hike over [...]
Should Private Schools Get Public Funding?
Joel French, the executive director at Public Interest Alberta says no. Our province has Canada’s most generous subsidies for private schools. Setting aside those private schools [...]
MOST READ
MOST READ
Kenney’s War on Workers
My wife and I spent our last day of our summer vacations in 2019 on a picket line with healthcare workers at Edmonton’s old General Hospital. Most of the cleaners, healthcare aides and nurses at the information picket were women of colour. Like public-sector workers across the province, they were ...
The Story of Joseph Lewis
In 1799 Joseph Lewis, a Hudson's Bay Company employee, arrived in what is now Alberta. He was 27 years old but his life had already been crammed with adventure.
Born in 1772 in Manchester, New Hampshire, at 20 he’d made his way to Montreal, where he joined the North West Company ...
All The Rage
The tipping point came a week from the end of the campaign, and
by April 16 in the Big Four Roadhouse on the Calgary Stampede grounds, United Conservative Party supporters felt scant need for civility. Not anymore. The UCP had won the 2019 Alberta election, taking 63 seats to the NDP’s ...