Guest Speaker - Niels Veldhuis

The Speaker was introduced by Leigh Higinbotham. Niels Veldhuis, Associate Director of Fiscal Studies and Senior Economist at the Fraser Institute presented his talk on The Rise of Western Canada. Niels (Former RYLA), talked about the recent rise of Western Canada and the contrasting decline/stagnation of Eastern Canada. In particular, the increase in economic development, economic growth, employment growth and decrease in unemployment, with the opposite being true in Eastern Canada. Niels pointed out while the abundace in natural resources and the commodity boom are important factors, government policy is equally as signifcant if not more so. Some of the main government policies that were implemented by the western Canadian provinces (BC, AB, SK) included: Created environments where economic activity can thrive. Active government participation. Reduced personal and corporate income tax. Free Trade (TILMA) between Alberta and BC products, services, investments and labour. Smaller focused government. Incentive based tax relief. Regulation streamlining. Angie Jaworsky thanked the speaker. Notes this week by Steven Mew