Latest news with #FraserInstitute
Cision Canada
2 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
Fraser Institute News Release: Ottawa has spent nearly $18 billion settling Indigenous 'specific claims' since 2015
CALGARY, AB, June 19, 2025 /CNW/ - Since 2015, the federal government has paid nearly $18 billion settling an increasing number of 'specific claims' by First Nations, including more than $7 billion last year alone, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think tank. "Specific claims are for past treaty breaches, and as such, their number should be finite. But instead of declining over time, the number of claims keeps growing as lucrative settlements are reached, which in turn prompts even more claims," said Tom Flanagan, Fraser Institute senior fellow, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary and author of Specific Claims—an Out-of-Control Program. The study reveals details about "specific claims," which began in 1974 and are filed by First Nations who claim that Canadian governments—past or present—violated the Indian Act or historic treaty agreements, such as when governments purchased reserve land for railway lines or hydro projects. Most "specific claims" date back 100 years or more. Specific claims are contrasted with comprehensive claims, which arise from the absence of a treaty. Crucially, the number of specific claims and the value of the settlement paid out have increased dramatically since 2015. In 2015/16, 11 'specific claims' were filed with the federal government, and the total value of the settlements was $27 million (in 2024 dollars, to adjust for inflation). The number of claims increased virtually every year since so that by 2024/25, 69 'specific claims' were filed, and the value of the settlements in 2024/25 was $7.061 billion. All told, from 2015/16 to 2024/25, the value of all 'specific claims' settlements was $17.9 billion (inflation adjusted). "First Nations have had 50 years to study their history, looking for violations of treaty and legislation. That is more than enough time for the discovery of legitimate grievances," Flanagan said. "Ottawa should set a deadline for filing specific claims so that the government and First Nations leaders can focus instead on programs that would do more to improve the living standards and prosperity for both current and future Indigenous peoples." 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
Toronto Sun
3 days ago
- Science
- Toronto Sun
Concentrate on climate change facts, not fallacies, urges new study
"It's best if we talk about climate change in terms of verifiable facts and logic," said study author Kenneth Green Kenneth P. Green. Photo by HANDOUT / TORONTO SUN OTTAWA — Climate facts over alarmist fallacies. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account That's the topic of a new report released this week by the Fraser Institute, investigating what is says are pervasive myths about climate change that, thanks to ideologically-charged activism, are now generally accepted as true. 'It's best if we talk about climate change in terms of verifiable facts and logic, and not get caught up in politically-driven or self-interested … portrayals of what a good good answer is to climate change,' said study author and institute Senior Fellow Kenneth Green. 'Climate change is real, greenhouse gases are real … but we need to do better thinking about these things in terms of pragmatic realities than getting onto boats to go cruise in protest against capitalism.' Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. Photo by Salvatore Cavalli / AP The study, entitled Four Climate Fallacies , dissects four popular so-called falsehoods about climate change — beginning with the assertion, one oft-repeated by activists like Greta Thunberg, that capitalism causes climate change. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Capitalism actually leads to cleaner manufacturing activities and productive activities faster than alternative economic organization forums such as socialism or communism,' Green said. 'Economically free countries, highly capitalist countries, realize their environmental problems early in their development and address them with unbelievable speed.' Read More From the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970, Green said, developed countries jumped to action — leading to substantial reductions in air pollution. 'Capitalism frees people to look around themselves and say the air is too dirty — then through their choices in the marketplaces and politics of economic democracies, it frees them to be able to afford to say 'clean this stuff up ASAP, get it done now,'' he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'And that's what happens.' The opposite, he said, is true in less-developed, less-economically free nations, either unwilling or unable to afford to make these changes. Another suggested fallacy is that all nations, no matter how little they emit, can make a difference in global emissions levels. 'Canada, even though it's only 1.5% of global emissions, is supposed to be working hard to mitigate its emissions — even though there would be no impact on the trajectory of the global climate were Canada to shut down completely,' he said. Canada currently ranks 11th as the world's top CO2 emitters, 583 Mt as of 2022. China, 32% of world emissions, released 12.6 Gt of CO2 in 2022, followed by the United States with 4.9 Gt, India with 2.7 Gt, Russia with 1.9 Gt, and Japan at 1.0 Gt. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Electrification of passenger vehicles is the third fallacy mentioned, as the cleanliness of using electric vehicles rests entirely on how clean the generated power is, while carbon capture was the fourth. 'In oil fields it makes sense to capture as much as they can from their emissions and then re-inject it to get even more oil and gas out — and that's how most carbon capture and storage is working in the world now for enhanced oil recovery,' Green said. 'But in bigger terms of capturing CO2 across the economy, from electricity generation, transport, buildings — compressing it and transporting it to some safe destination and burying it underground — those physical barriers are very large.' bpassifiume@ X: @bryanpassifiume RECOMMENDED VIDEO NHL Editorial Cartoons Canada Columnists Soccer
Cision Canada
4 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
Fraser Institute News Release: Rhetoric--not evidence--continues to dominate climate debate and policy
VANCOUVER, BC, June 17, 2025 /CNW/ - Myths, fallacies and ideological rhetoric continue to dominate the climate policy discussion, leading to costly and ineffective government policies, according to a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. "When considering climate policies, it's important to understand what the science and analysis actually show instead of what the climate alarmists believe to be true," said Kenneth P. Green, Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of Four Climate Fallacies. The study dispels several myths about climate change and popular—but ineffective—emission reduction policies, specifically: Capitalism causes climate change: In fact, according to several environment/climate indices and the Fraser Institute's annual Economic Freedom of the World Index, the more economically free a country is, the more effective it is at protecting its environment and combatting climate change. Even small-emitting countries can do their part to fight climate change: Even if Canada reduced its greenhouse gas emissions to zero, there would be little to no measurable impact in global emissions, and it distracts people from the main drivers of emissions, which are China, India and the developing world. Vehicle electrification will reduce climate risk and clean the air: Research has shown that while EVs can reduce GHG emissions when powered with low-GHG energy, they often are not, and further, have offsetting environmental harms, reducing net environmental/climate benefits. Carbon capture and storage is a viable strategy to combat climate change: While effective at a small scale, the benefits of carbon capture and storage to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions on a massive scale are limited and questionable. "Citizens and their governments around the world need to be guided by scientific evidence when it comes to what climate policies make the most sense," Green said. "Unfortunately, the climate policy debate is too often dominated by myths, fallacies and false claims by activists and alarmists, with costly and ineffective results." The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, 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 SOURCE The Fraser Institute
Cision Canada
12-06-2025
- Health
- Cision Canada
Fraser Institute News Release: 84% of Swiss hospitals and 60% of hospitalizations are in private facilities, and they face much lower wait times
VANCOUVER, BC, June 12, 2025 /CNW/ - If Canada reformed to emulate Switzerland's approach to universal health care, including its much greater use of private sector involvement, the country would deliver far better results to patients and reduce wait times, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian policy think-tank. "The bane of Canadian health care is lack of access to timely care, so it's critical to look to countries like Switzerland with more successful universal health care," said Yanick Labrie, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Integrating Private Health Care Into Canada's Public System: What We Can Learn from Switzerland. The study highlights how Switzerland successfully integrates the private sector into their universal health-care system, which consistently outperforms Canada on most health-care metrics, including wait times. For example, in 2022, the percentage of patients who waited less than two months for a specialist appointment was 85.3 per cent in Switzerland compared to just 48.3 per cent in Canada. In Switzerland, 84.2 per cent of all hospitals are private (either for-profit or not-for-profit) institutions, and the country's private hospitals provide 60.2 per cent of all hospitalizations, 60.9 per cent of all births, and 67.1 per cent of all operating rooms. Crucially, Swiss patients can obtain treatment at the hospital of their choice, whether located inside or outside their geographic location, and hospitals cannot discriminate against patients, based on the care required. "Switzerland shows that a universal health-care system can reconcile efficiency and equity–all while being more accessible and responsive to patients' needs and preferences," Labrie said. "Based on the success of the Swiss model, provinces can make these reforms now and help improve Canadian health care." The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, 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 SOURCE The Fraser Institute
Cision Canada
10-06-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Fraser Institute News Release: AI can help mitigate shrinking labour force by increasing productivity of existing workers and adding new ones
VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2025 /CNW/ - As Canada's labour force shrinks due to aging and slowing rates of immigration, artificial intelligence (AI) can help by increasing the number of available workers and improving worker productivity, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. "While there's a common perception that AI will eventually lead to mass unemployment, it actually opens the door to the labour market for people who may have been on the outside looking in," said Morley Gunderson, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Toronto and author of Can AI Mitigate Our Labour Force Problems? For example, AI can facilitate more effective job-matching between employers and job seekers including retirees who want to return to work, students who want part-time jobs, and new immigrants. AI can also improve employment prospects for people with disabilities by equipping employees with assistive technologies (screen readers, speech recognition software, etc.) and helping make driverless vehicles, "smart" wheelchairs and other AI-powered resources more widely available. At the same time, AI can help increase productivity growth, which has stagnated in Canada. For example, AI can help connect small and dispersed geographical markets with larger commercial centres, facilitate trade (within Canada and internationally), help small firms grow, and increase the ability of scientists and engineers to develop innovations that fuel productivity growth. "Rather than unduly fearing AI, Canadians should welcome the promise of AI to increase our ability to produce goods and services and improve our living standards," said Steven Globerman, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. 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
