Parkland Research

"Alberta's 'good enough' approach to fiscal management" is the Parkland Institute's annual pre-budget report on the state of Alberta's finances. The report examines in detail the province's current revenue structure and recent expenditures with special concentration given to the areas of health, education, and social services.

This paper reviews some of the recent political rhetoric and public opinion on the controversial subject of youth crime and how to deal with it, including the Young Offender’s Act of 1984 and the new Youth Criminal Justice Act.

How will trade agreements and federalism constrain Canadian policy makers if they implement the Kyoto Protocol?

In the fall of 2001, the Alberta government was about to release its long-awaited Mazankowski Report on health care in Alberta.

The paper argues recent government fiscal policies have created an artificial revenue crisis, the result of which has been a second stage crisis involving renewed cuts to valued public services, intensified labour strife, higher costs to average Albertans, and general economic instability. The paper argues that government explanations for the crisis (e.g., that expenditures are out of control) are not substantiated by any existing data and serve only to mislead the public.

Some of the most intense effects of globalization can be seen in rural communities. Despite a booming world economy, rural communities-and the people who work in natural-resource industries like farming, forestry, mining or fishing-have been hard hit by recent international trade agreements. This collection looks at changing rural life, across the country and around the globe.

In 1995 the Alberta government followed the example of Margaret Thatcher in Britain, and began to deregulate Alberta's electricity industry. Defying critics, the government promised Albertans lowered electricity prices and more stable supplies once electricity was subjected to the competitive pressures of the marketplace.

In September 2000 The Health Care Protection Act (formerly Bill 11) was proclaimed and established as law in Alberta. Since the Act permits private, for-profit surgical facilities to keep patients for more than a 12-hour stay, it is only a matter of time before for-profit hospitals are approved and operating in Alberta. The first ones are likely to appear in Calgary.

We are paying a high price for free trade. The 49th Parallel is vanishing, creating a new integrated continental oil and gas market in which Canadian energy industries are used to feed an ever-growing American demand.

This report is an analysis of Albertans’ family incomes during the 1990s. It compares the incomes of Alberta families at all income levels, examines the income gap between the richest and poorest of families, and discusses the escalating stress that Alberta families face as they attempt to maintain their standard of living in an increasingly competitive market place.