Provincial Economic Freedom in Canada 1981-1998

by Faisal Arman, Dexter Samida, and Michael Walker

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About the Authors

Faisal Arman has a B.A. in Politics and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an M.Sc. (Econ.) in Geography from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has made his career in the field of environment, health, and safety in the minerals, oil, and gas industry and is currently working as an environmental consultant in the field of environmental management systems. From 1997 to 1998, Mr Arman worked at the Fraser Institute as a Research Economist. While there, he was co-author of the The Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies Operating in Canada (Fall 1997) and did the initial research and writing for Provincial Economic Freedom in Canada.

Dexter Samida majored in economics at the University of Saskatchewan, from which he received his B.Comm. (high honours) with Great Distinction in 1997. He obtained his M.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto in 1998. In the summer of 1997, he worked as an intern at The Fraser Institute, where did research on taxation in Canada. He has written articles on economic freedom and poverty, and consumerism. Mr Samida is a native of rural Saskatchewan.

Michael Walker is an economist, journalist, broadcaster, consultant, university lecturer, and public speaker. As an economist, he has written or edited 40 books on economic topics. His articles on technical economic subjects have appeared in professional journals in Canada, the United States, and Europe, including the Canadian Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, The Journal of Finance, the Canadian Tax Journal, Health Management Quarterly, and Health Affairs. As a journalist, he has written over 675 articles, which have appeared in some 60 newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, the Wall Street Journal, the Vancouver Sun, the Chicago Tribune, the Reader's Digest, the Detroit News and the Western Star --the newspaper in his birthplace, Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Dr Walker has been a regular columnist in the Vancouver Province, the Toronto Sun, and the Ottawa Citizen ; he is also a member of The Financial Post Board of Economists. As a broadcaster, he has written and delivered some 2,000 radio broadcasts on economic topics and appeared on radio and television programs in Canada, the United States, and Latin America. As a consultant, he has provided advice to private groups and governments in the United States, Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Jamaica, New Zealand, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Sweden, Venezuela, and Canada. He has lectured to over 1000 audiences at universities and in other venues on five continents.

Since 1974, Michael Walker has directed the activities of the Fraser Institute. Before that, he taught at the University of Western Ontario and Carleton University and was employed at the Bank of Canada and the Federal Department of Finance. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario and his B.A. at St. Francis Xavier University. He is a director of a number of firms and other enterprises, including The Mont Pelerin Society, Mancal Corporation, The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, The Max Bell Foundation, Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, and Hollyburn Country Club. He is also a member of the Editorial Consultative Committee of the Development Research Centre Institute of the State Council, People's Republic of China. In 1992, he was awarded the Colin M. Brown Freedom Medal and Award by the National Citizens Coalition.

Acknowledgments

The Fraser Institute thanks the Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation for their support of this project. The authors would also like to thank the following individuals and organizations who greatly contributed to the development of this work: Joel Emes, Research Economist at The Fraser Institute for his assistance with both the methodology and data; all the provincial government bodies who assisted in the aggregation of data; Mark Weller for his expertise in maintaining the data systems; Marc Law for his constructive comments on various aspects of this study. We also thank Vanessa Schneider for her assistance with data entry and proofreading of the study and Liv Fredricksen, Kelly Torrance, Karmyn Turner, and Pete Molloy for their careful proofreading of this document. Of course, any remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.

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