Health-care policy doyenne Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, lived under the Canadian health care system — before moving to the United States in 1991 and becoming a citizen in 2006 — and she’s not excited about America’s health system heading in the same direction. “Understanding health care is like unraveling an onion: There are many tearful moments,” Pipes said at a recent Heritage Lecture about the U.S. health-care reform debate. “When I look at [President Barack] Obama’s plan for health care, I see it leading …
Several leading European and Canadian health economists, physicians and scholars — in Washington recently for the Galen Institute’s conference, “Lessons from Abroad for Health Reform in the US” — met with analysts from the Heritage Foundation and other conservative think-tank leaders. They wanted to explain why Americans should be concerned when officials push for government-controlled, universal health care coverage that includes innocuous-sounding but largely intrusive and prohibitive health measures. “We were told single-payer health care would be a true liberation for Canada when they enacted it 40 years ago, and …
Heritage analysts Jena Baker McNeill and Diem Nguyen report: On January 15, the United States Northern Command Joint Task Force-North accidentally released to the public a briefing that expressed concerns over terrorists entering the U.S. from Canada. While the report was taken offline and out of public view shortly thereafter, this briefing is one of many reports centered on U.S./Canadian security policies, including a recent request by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for information relating to the mechanisms and programs currently in place at the U.S. northern border. While the …
Meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday, President Barack Obama emphasized their commitment to mutual security. Prime Minister Harper went so far as to recognize that “threats to the United States are threats to Canada.” While both men are right to recognize the need for a strong security alliance between the U.S. and Canada and the need for a stronger counterterrorism strategy—the devil is in the details. Congress seems committed to tackling U.S./Canadian security concerns at the northern border. And Secretary Napolitano indicated her support for a more aggressive …
Throughout the presidential campaign Barak Obama apologists like Fareed Zakaria hoped that Obama was just lying to the American people about his protectionist stances on trade, and that if elected Obama would prove to be every bit the free trader that Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush have been. We still hold out hope that Zakaria is right on that count. The same cannot be said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This summer Pelosi single handily destroyed over three decades of U.S. credibility on trade by gutting the “fast track” guarantee …
Despite having not built a plant in more than three decades, the technology for nuclear power has come a long way in the United States. One of the most intriguing developments is the ability to use the chemical element thorium to power reactors. Thorium power has unique advantages that address two of the primary concerns for those skeptical of nuclear power. The first is that it is a proliferation-resistant fuel cycle — no production of nuclear weapons-usable materials in spent fuel. The second is the significantly reduced volume, weight and …
Among those least amused by Barack Obama’s threats to unilaterally pull out of NAFTA are the Canadians. And being our next-door neighbors, they know exactly where to hit us should the U.S. turn protectionist under a President Obama: If Mr. Obama wins in November and brings his issues — labour and environment standards — to the table, Canada should prepare its own list. At the top should be getting out of the “energy proportionality” straitjacket that mandates that Canada must offer a majority of its oil and gas to the …
America’s allies have been expressing concern about the protectionist rhetoric coming from the liberal controlled Congress for some time now. The Detroit News reports that they are beginning to take preemptive action: The Canadian government — backed by American businesses including Detroit’s Big Three automakers — has launched a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill to defend free trade between the two North American economic superpowers. The Canadian effort stems from the fierce criticism the North American Free Trade Agreement came under during the Democratic presidential primaries and from threats made …
Canada is beginning to see nuclear energy as the superior substitute to carbon fuel-based electricity. A number of Canadian environmental activists and government officials are turning to nuclear power and reviving its prestige as the cleanest energy source we can feasibly use. As the Canadian public continues to suffer from rising oil prices, they are not turning to the red-herrings of wind and solar power, but to nuclear energy. The Ontario provincial government is acting on plans to build new nuclear plants. In Canada, the public, the government, and environmental …
At least somebody in North America is still showing leadership on free trade. Unfortunately for U.S. consumers, it is not Congress which still refuses to approve free trade deals with Colombia and South Korea. But Canada is still forging ahead, inking a deal with Colombia earlier this month and Peru in May. With virtually every editorial board in the nation recognizing the economic gains from free trade with Colombia, liberal protectionists in Congress have fallen back to citing human rights abuses as the reason for their opposition. Canada’s government had …
