Fraser Forum - July/August 2011: Government participation in housing finance

In this issue:

A great entrepreneurial idea or not? The public-private partnership between IMS Health and the Canada Pension Plan
by Dr. Gordon Atherley
The public-private partnership between IMS Health and the Canada Pension Plan has raised strong concerns about patient privacy and data mining.

Banking on Liberia’s future
by Thompson Ayodele
The World Bank’s suspension of palm oil funding undermines its historical mandate of poverty alleviation through agricultural development in the developing world.

Government participation in housing finance: the case for CMHC withdrawal keeps becoming stronger
by Neil Mohindra
The Canadian government needs to withdraw from its backing of the residential mortgage market and should eliminate Canada’s exposure to the mortgage finance market before, rather than after, a crisis.

Canadians celebrated Tax Freedom Day on June 6th
by Milagros Palacios and Niels Veldhuis
Read a summary of the 2011 Tax Freedom Day report, which provides a comprehensive and easily understood indicator of the overall tax burden faced by the average Canadian family.

Ontario should replace age-based drug subsidies
by Mark Rovere and Bacchus Barua
Provinces could achieve significant savings by replacing aged-based eligibility criteria for public drug plans with means-tested eligibility for catastrophic coverage.

Alberta heads back to the 1980s
by Mark Milke
Alberta needs to be careful not to repeat the trend of consecutive deficits experienced by the province in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Taxing pop and butter won’t necessarily make Canadians skinny
by Nadeem Esmail
“Fat taxes” are not the appropriate policy tool to deal with the rising prevalence of obesity and poor diet.