Latest Commentary
Inflation is bred to the bone
Financial Post, September 28, 2022 The current spike in inflation has its origin in the pandemic, which in one respect is good news: supply chains will eventually unclog and pent-up spending will abate, either because interest rates bite or financial markets force governments to pare back. Read more
Time for an adult conversation about taxes
Winnipeg Free Press, September 2, 2022 Earlier this year while cleaning out some old files I found my property tax assessment from 1993. I had just received my 2022 assessment, and my economist’s “spidy” sense tingled. This mental itch kicks in when we economists compare costs and prices over time – we automatically adjust for…
To boost or not to boost?
Winnipeg Free Press, August 1, 2022 With apologies to The Clash, that iconic band from the 80s, “Darling you got to let me know, Should I vaxx or should I wait?” Let us be clear. I am a vaccine enthusiast. When the shingles vaccine became available, I was there in a flash. I get the…
The search for the truth never ends
Winnipeg Free Press, May 30, 2022 Tributes to David Milgaard all highlight the strength of an individual who persevered through more that two decades of imprisonment for a murder he never committed. His mother Joyce Milgaard, Lloyd Axworthy, and the lawyer who believed his story, Hersch Wolch, deserve recognition for their efforts in righting a…
We need COVID measures we can trust
Winnipeg Free Press, April 8, 2022 It is curious that the only recent indicator I have seen that COVID-19 still stalks us is that Kyle Connor and Nate Schmidt of the Winnipeg Jets were placed in virus protocol last week. I do not know what Canada’s self-styled virologists in chief (Stefanson, Kenney, Ford et al)…
Time to rethink vaccine strategy
December 13, 2021 Omicron is on the prowl. While early indications are that it does not cause serious illness, it is very infectious. The current approach to enforcing vaccination mandates will not probably get us to 90-per-cent-plus of everyone over six being fully vaccinated, which is probably the level needed manage this disease. (Read more…)
Time to examine treaty annuities and the land
Sheilla Jones, Wayne Helgason, and Gregory Mason Winnipeg Free Press, December 29, 2021 The November Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that the Crown violated Robinson Treaty terms by failing to increase annuity payments highlights the necessity of understanding the link between annuities and the land as a step toward reconciliation. Because without reconciliation, Canada risks…
Continue Reading Time to examine treaty annuities and the land
Online learning is here to stay
Winnipeg Free Press, August 9, 2021 Fill in the blank. Virtual learning is to live learning as phone sex is to ______ sex. There you have it … a question from the 2021 Mensa test.(Read full Article)
This is one curve we shouldn’t have flattened
Financial Post, February 9, 2022 I was fooling around with some GDP data the other day, as we economists are wont to do, and when I put it on a chart and drew a couple of trend lines, I was shocked by how setbacks we’ve suffered since 2000 seem to have become permanent scars on…
Continue Reading This is one curve we shouldn’t have flattened
Exaggerations of vaccine risk dangerous
When I was 12, a friend offered to teach me a new card game. After explaining the basics, we started to play and I lost, as he mentioned another rule he had forgotten. I continued to lose as new and increasingly obscure rules surfaced. This is how I feel about COVID-19. New rules keep extending…
