Montreal, Thursday, November 6, 2014 – During a talk he gave last week, Finance Minister Carlos Leitao said that certain health care and educational services could be provided more efficiently if they were managed by private companies and other non-governmental entities. A wave of panic quickly set in, with critics crying out that the profit motive does not serve the public interest. Is this concern justified?

Montreal, Thursday, October 30, 2014 – While more and more resources are devoted to the health care system all across Canada, and while Health Minister Gaétan Barrette is pushing for the adoption of a major reform of the way the Quebec system is organized, waiting lists remain a persistent problem that seriously undermines the quality of life of patients. As part of its health care research program, the MEI has produced a short documentary to shine some light on this situation.

Montreal, Thursday, October 9, 2014 – In the context of the debate over municipal pension plans, the Montreal Economic Institute proposes that we abandon defined benefit plans altogether and move to defined contribution plans, but only in the future, and that we gradually index the retirement age. These two solutions would progressively but sustainably solve the problem of pension plan deficits, contrary to Bill 3.

Montreal, Monday, September 29, 2014 – As a new round of CRTC hearings begins today to determine whether a price ceiling must be imposed on wholesale roaming fees, the MEI is publishing a Viewpoint entitled “Three Myths about Competition in the Canadian Wireless Sector” that calls into question the idea that new interventionist measures must be adopted to encourage competition in this sector.

Montreal, September 25, 2014 – On the occasion of its annual George Lengvari Sr. Lecture Series gala event, the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) awarded the John Dobson Medal for Free Enterprise, a prize created in 2014, to Mr. Jean-Paul Gagné.

Montreal, September 3, 2014 – The “Ice Bucket Challenge” for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that has gone viral on social media these past few weeks has helped the ALS Association raise $100 million to fund research. How will an innovative drug to treat this disease be discovered and developed? What will the public sector and the private sector contribute to this process?

Montreal, August 27th, 2014 – While the sale of gasoline will as of January 1st, 2015 be subject to a carbon market formed solely by Quebec and California, a Léger Marketing poll commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) shows that nearly half of Quebecers are opposed to this measure once they learn that it could lead to a 3¢ per litre increase in the price of gas, versus 36% who are in favour of it.

Montreal, Thursday, August 14, 2014 – For the second year in a row, the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) went out into the field to film a video showing how forestry activities coexist with wildlife. The short documentary that was produced sketches a realistic picture of the Quebec forest from the point of view of those who make their living from it, contrasting sharply with alarmist talk suggesting that harvesting the forest jeopardizes its future and the species that live there.

Montreal, Monday July 7, 2014 – The latest attempt by the Canadian government to encourage the deployment of a fourth national wireless player is wrongheaded and based on a faulty analysis of the situation, according to the authors of the paper “The State of Competition in Canada’s Telecommunications Industry – 2014.”

The minister of Industry, James Moore, announced this morning that a new spectrum auction will take place in the next few months with 60% of the frequencies set aside for new players.

Montreal, Friday, July 4th, 2014 – On January 1st, 2015, the Western Climate Initiative, the carbon market formed by Quebec and California, will officially come into effect. As a result of this new tax, the price of gasoline will increase by some 3¢ a litre. This will deal a direct blow to our wallets and to the Quebec economy.