In many countries around the world, governments are increasingly tempted to regulate the advertising industry. Whether in the name of consumer protection or health concerns, advertising for products that are perfectly legal must conform to ever stricter rules. Think of alcohol, tobacco or fast food, for example. This worldwide trend was recently highlighted by the head of planning for a well respected ad agency in the British newsweekly The Observer.

In recent years, the sometimes strained, sometimes fruitful relationship between Quebec and Alberta has attracted a lot of attention. The issues raised by this relationship will have undeniable impacts on Quebec's future: equalization, the division of powers between Ottawa and the provinces, the energy future, climate change, etc. Despite the importance of these questions, the relationship between Quebec and Alberta has never been the object of extensive study.

After months of unsuccessful negotiations and conciliation talks, Canada Post workers voted by a margin of 94.5% in favour of going on strike at the end of May if they do not reach a negotiated settlement with their employer. The time is right to evaluate the costs that a postal service monopoly imposes on consumers and on the economy as a whole. To determine which reforms might lead to the best postal service at the best price, we should study the experiences of other countries.

The Quebec government's 2011-2012 Budget states that the public sector debt has risen to 235 billion dollars on March 31, 2011, an increase of 13 billion over last year. Representing 74% of GDP, this debt is even more of a concern in the context of the aging of the population and of current deficits. For each of the past two Quebec budgets, the MEI has published a Viewpoint on the debt of the Quebec government that explained various concepts related to debt and compared the public indebtedness of the provinces.

The purpose of Quebec's Occupational Health and Safety Plan is to prevent industrial accidents and occupational diseases and to compensate the victims of such hazards. Strangely, while the number of these accidents and occupational diseases is dropping, the costs of compensation continue to rise, increasing the $2.55-billion annual bill entirely paid for by employers. This program alone represents the equivalent of 65% of corporate taxes paid in Quebec.

Ce document hors série est publié à l’occasion du discours de Steve Forbes à la tribune de l’Institut économique de Montréal en date du 15 février 2011. Il constitue une traduction adaptée de l’épilogue du livre How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today’s Economy de Steve Forbes et d’Elizabeth Ames.

The members of the National Assembly will soon begin looking into a bill aiming to account for the new reality of teleworking by modifying those provisions of the Labour Code dealing with replacement workers during a strike or lockout. In North America, only the labour codes of Quebec and British Columbia systematically prevent recourse to replacement workers during labour disputes. Quebec therefore already distinguishes itself from the continent's other regions by the very existence of these provisions.

During their annual meeting at the beginning of this month, representatives of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) decided to suspend the tourist season for snowmobilers in order to protest the government’s plan to reduce the costs of La Financière agricole. The dispute pertains to the exclusion of the costs of the least competitive farms when calculating the compensation to be paid out to farmers.

Governments have made considerable efforts in recent years to reduce the tax burden of business. The federal government has promised to reduce the corporate income tax rate even further, toward a rate of 15% in 2012. The Quebec government's last budget highlighted the complete elimination of the capital tax, which will take effect on January 1st, 2011. This is very good news, because corporate income taxes and other taxes paid by businesses have an impact not only or even primarily on shareholders, but also on workers, especially in an open economy.

Do the "rich" pay their fair share of taxes? This question often comes up in the media and in public and private conversations, in Quebec and elsewhere. Anecdotal evidence may give the impression that it is a simple matter for someone of means to hire a tax accountant and relieve himself of a good part of the tax burden shouldered by the ordinary citizen. To verify if this is true, we asked for the help of an expert to calculate the taxes and contributions paid by different Quebec taxpayers according to their incomes.