Until a few years ago, the main concern in the Canadian debate over health policy was how to control costs. When provinces managed to restrain health-care spending growth to an average rate below that of the economy as a whole (since 2010), that concern subsided somewhat; we had “bent the
What motivated Finance Minister Joe Ceci to impose a discriminatory tax on out-of-province beer back in October 2015? Was it to diversify the Alberta economy while leveling the playing field for the local brewing industry, as he later claimed? Internal government documents filed with the court in connection with Steam
It’s a little bit rich for me when I hear the Alberta Government invoke the constitution to explain why the new NDP-Green coalition government in BC cannot block a federally approved pipeline. The Alberta government is only a friend of convenience when it comes to the constitution. It shouldn’t be
Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, sometimes it gets removed. Karen MacKinnon, a former councillor from the Alberta town of Drumheller, knows this from experience. On March 25, 2011, MacKinnon was arrested and charged with defamatory libel under section 301 of the Criminal Code after she posted on Facebook
Owners of a Calgary-based beer importing company say changes to provincial beer taxation have destroyed their business. They took their complaint to the Internal Trade Secretariat Thursday in Edmonton. Mike Tessier, president of Artisan Ales, believes the changes the Alberta government made to beer tax policies in 2015 and 2016
Calgary, Alberta—The Canadian Constitution Foundation supports Karen MacKinnon as she takes her free speech fight to Supreme Court of Canada. We hope the Supreme Court of Canada finally resolves the dubious constitutional status of section 301 of the Criminal Code, which is used in cases like Karen’s to punish speech
Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, known as the “notwithstanding clause,” has just about acquired the status of a zombie law in recent decades, left largely untouched by legislatures (at least in the Rest of Canada). Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall recently took on the role of
A trade panel hearing is scheduled in Edmonton June 1 into a Calgary liquor importer’s complaint that Alberta’s system of beer taxation violates trade agreements. The province has imposed a $1.25-per-litre markup on beer, but last August introduced a rebate for Alberta craft brewers to support the local industry. Artisan
Artisan Ales hearing scheduled to fight Alberta government’s unconstitutional barrier to trade Calgary, AB—Artisan Ales’s trade complaint against the Government of Alberta under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) is scheduled for a hearing before an independent, expert panel at 9:00 am on June 1, 2017. The Government of Saskatchewan
