Parkland Research

The Bottom Line summarizes a huge body of evidence to get to the truth: private health insurance is more expensive and actually reduces access to health care. Evidence reveals that a manufactured cost crisis is driving the push for more private health insurance. This book examines the implications of the recent Supreme Court Chaoulli decision in Quebec, and offers vignettes of life before medicare. The Bottom Line concludes that the Alberta Conservative government is needlessly pursuing a US-style health system.

This paper is aimed at promoting discussion on the development of an energy security strategy. It is a made-in-Alberta initiative, in partnership with Canadians from energy producing and energy consuming regions.

EPCOR is a unique organization, one with many contradictions. These contradictions raise the issue of EPCOR’s accountability. And at a time when the City of Edmonton is considering handing over its drainage system to EPCOR, consideration of accountability is urgent.

Canadians are questioning the logic of having traded away our energy sovereignty with NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A right-wing populist in an oil-rich province, Ralph Klein has been a one-man wrecking crew, dismantling Alberta's public sector and remaking the province into a freewheeling, capitalist paradise. This book re-examines Klein's Alberta after a decade of deficit-slashing, tax-cutting conservatism.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to instances in which employees may be in a position to report on wrongdoing within their workplace. Employees who report on wrongdoing in the workplace have come to be known as whistleblowers.

The April 2005 Alberta budget will be the first since the province declared the debt eliminated. It’s time for a bold vision, and this budget should lay the fiscal foundations for realizing that vision. The 2005 Throne Speech promises that All Albertans will share in the Alberta Advantage. To ensure this, we must collectively commit to building a socially sustainable and equitable economy

Why does the government keep telling us our health care system is unsustainable and more private health care will save it from collapse? In this report we identify the underlying reasons to be ideological, not fiscal.

The Alberta government often appears stuck in yesterday’s rhetoric of a debt crisis, too willing to engage in pitched battles with its civil servants, teachers, and nurses; disregarding of the needs of municipalities; and unresponsive to the plight of the poor and homelessness. 

This report examines Albertans’ attitudes regarding the state of democracy in the province. The findings suggest Albertans are very concerned about the health of democracy in the province, but disagree in fundamental ways with political leaders and much of the mainstream media regarding the causes for concern and means of improving democracy.