A reform now taking place is modifying the social assistance program, in particular by increasing the appeal of work and encouraging recipients to make more effort to work. For this to happen, paid work has to be more remunerative than the alternative, which consists of receiving a cheque and putting one’s time to other uses.

The amounts spent on drugs in the Canadian health care system have risen sharply over the last few years. In this context, the cost of new patented drugs is a source of controversy. According to an increasingly widespread view, most patented drugs, other than a few truly innovative products, are just “me-too” copies, with no value added, that cost less to produce than we are told. How much are new drugs really worth? And who should end up deciding whether their use is justified?

The Canadian health care system has deteriorated in recent years despite the injection of billions of extra dollars in government funds. A simple increase in public spending will not be sufficient to solve the problems or to meet the needs of an aging population. Major changes are required to limit costs by improving efficiency in the provision of health care.

It is difficult to envisage a reform of public transit in Quebec without the spectre of privatization brandished. Over the last 15 years, however, public authorities in many metropolitan areas the world have established alternative strategies for developing and managing urban transport necessarily resorting to privatization. Their success has provided for a renewal of public transit.

This book presents the basic principles of economics in a simple and very clear style. Are there advantages to government intervening in the economy? What effects does this intervention have? Why is freedom important in economic matters? Are there cases when it is necessary to limit or even stifle this freedom? How should wealth be produced? How should it be redistributed? Is competition a good thing or a bad thing? And is it inevitable? Regarding the rich, the poor and taxation, what can be considered fair? Is there reason to be scandalized, as happens in some circles? The book also examines special cases: drug prices, the financial problems of the health care system, expenses imposed on students, and other topics as well.

In the field of telecommunications, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) protected monopolies against entry when it should not have, and it now grants privileges to their competitors while there are no more economic reasons to do so. Even if it could be argued that telephone services were a natural monopoly before the development of the new telecommunications technology, this is not the case any more, and it seems that the CRTC no longer has any reason to intervene in this sector. A good economic case can be made for a real and complete deregulation of telecommunications in Canada.

Drug costs have undeniably risen more quickly than other health care costs. The share of drugs in overall Canadian health care spending went from 10.8% in 1988 to 15.7% in 2001. However, the higher drug expenses facing Canada’s health care systems are not due to price increases imposed by multinational pharmaceutical firms. Various factors explain the growth in drug spending.

Quebecers are the most heavily taxed citizens in North America. The top marginal personal tax rate is higher than in any other province, and hits the Quebec taxpayer beginning at the relatively low income of $53 405. In fact, the top marginal rate is reached faster in Quebec than in any of the G-7 countries. The promised reduction could correct this situation by reducing marginal rates by one third. The time is right to implement a real tax reform in Quebec.

A widely held view, disseminated by student associations in particular, suggests that improving access to higher education means students should pay little or nothing in fees. Despite this view, a growing number of university administrators and various people in academic and political circles are arguing in favour of higher tuition fees to deal with what they regard as underfinancing that is affecting the quality of higher learning.

Without fanfare, the Quebec government recently took a sharp turn towards implementing user fees for public services. Beginning with its first budget in June 2003, the government stopped reimbursing parents for fees required by elementary and secondary schools. Then it announced an increase in contributions to the drug insurance plan and lifted the freeze on electricity rate increases. In November it announced an increase in fees at childcare centres and allowed public transit corporations to hike fares. This is just the beginning.