The run up to the recent Quebec election prompted a revival of the argument that only federal transfers keep that fiscally-challenged province afloat. For example, Mark Milke of the Fraser Institute argued in the National Post that Quebec is “massively subsidized by the rest of Canada.”

This argument is hugely over-done. And it contradicts a more effective and positive argument for federalism, namely that it has been no barrier to the construction of a distinctive and progressive social model in Quebec.

On May 1st, the Standing Committee on Natural Resources considered the issue of “Energy Security of Ukraine and the Rest of Europe”. Government MPs likely picked this topic because they were expecting the export of Canadian oil and gas to be the “solution” to Europe’s challenge.

What they learned, however, was unexpected. What was the most realistic way to promote energy security in the Ukraine and Europe? Energy efficiency!

It recently came to light that Facebook’s changes to its News Feed are drastically reducing the reach of organizational fan pages. In its quest to manage overwhelming volumes of content for users and to generate revenue from brands, things could get worse: one well publicized internal source said unpaid, or “organic,” reach on Facebook could drop as low as 1% in the near future.

As is well-known, the proportion of women who are active in the paid work force has grown very rapidly since the 1970s, transforming the workplace and society as a whole in the process.  The rising participation rate of women was a major economic force over the past three decades in that it kept real family incomes afloat despite stagnant, if not falling, male wages.