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FRASER UPDATE
A weekly digest of our latest research, commentary, and blog posts
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Latest Research
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Government workers across Canada receive 8.5% higher wages, on average, than comparable private-sector workers
Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Canada, 2023 Edition, finds that government employees across Canada—including federal, provincial and municipal workers—were paid 8.5 per cent higher wages, on average, than workers in the private sector in 2021, the most recent year of available comparable data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey.
Read More [[link removed]]

Lots to celebrate this Earth Day, as Canada remains world leader in environmental performance
Environmental Ranking for Canada and the OECD: Third Edition finds that Canada’s environmental record outperforms a majority of comparable high-income countries worldwide.
Read More [[link removed]]

Uniform ESG reporting framework would be economically impractical, if not technically impossible
The Impracticality of Standardizing ESG Reporting is the latest essay in the Institute’s series on the ESG (environmental, social and governance) movement. It finds that mandating a uniform set of ESG reporting standards across all public companies would be extremely costly because of the difficulties defining ESG materiality and the scope of ESG standards, measuring and aggregating ESG information, and enforcing ESG standards.
Read More [[link removed]]


Essential Scholars Explained Podcast
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Key Insights of UCLA—Part 3: Markets and Social Issues [[link removed]]
David Henderson⁠—emeritus professor of economics with the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California⁠—and Steve Globerman⁠—professor emeritus at Western Washington University and the Addington Chair in Measurement at the Fraser Institute⁠—both join Rosemarie Fike once more to talk about why the UCLA school of economics has remained relevant in today's world. Especially how even when it comes to social issues, companies are ultimately bound by the preferences of their consumers.


Commentary and Blog Posts
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Ottawa should reject unrealistic union demands as federal strike looms [[link removed]]
(Appeared in the Toronto Sun) by Alex Whalen and Jake Fuss
Government workers in Canada were paid 8.5 per cent more (on average) than their private-sector counterparts.

Celebrate Earth Day by burning latest UN climate report [[link removed]]
(Appeared in the Edmonton Sun) by Kenneth P. Green
According to estimates, it will cost Canada $2 trillion to reach net-zero by 2050.

Ottawa’s approach to spending—what goes up must continue going up [[link removed]]
by Jake Fuss and Milagros Palacios
Federal program spending is expected to grow by $132.7 billion—or 41 per cent—between 2014/15 and 2023/24.

Parents should be able to opt out of ‘woke’ schools [[link removed]]
(Appeared in True North) by Michael Zwaagstra
Students are now subjected to lessons about the perils of white privilege, systemic racism and heterosexism.

Federal ‘green agenda’ unlikely to spur business investment [[link removed]]
by Jock Finlayson
Green technologies and related manufactured goods comprise less than 1 per cent of Canada's GDP.

Gimmicks and handouts won’t turnaround Calgary’s downtown—business investment will [[link removed]]
(Appeared in the Calgary Sun) by Tegan Hill and Elmira Aliakbari
Capital investment in Alberta’s oil and gas industry fell from $58.1 billion to $21.5 billion.

AI unlikely to trigger an employment apocalypse [[link removed]]
(Appeared in the Ottawa Sun) by Jock Finlayson
Research finds that AI will increase labour productivity and boost global economic output by 5 to 7 per cent.

Canadian history lacking in Alberta schools [[link removed]]
(Appeared in the Western Standard) by Michael Zwaagstra
Most provinces do not require high school students to take a Canadian history course.


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