In this issue:

BC’s Dependency-inducing U-Turn on Welfare Reform
by Jason Clemens, Niels Veldhuis, and Sylvia LeRoy
The BC government recently de-legitimized one of Canada’s most important social welfare reforms to date. It’s the poor who’ll pay.

Private Sector Can Meet Child Care Demands
by Peter Shawn Taylor
If the supply of regulated day care spaces is indeed a concern, advocates should be promoting a greater role for the private sector.

The Increasing Cost of University: Is it Fair for Lower-income Families?
by Claudia R. Hepburn
The financial benefits from a university degree are so great that despite high and increasing tuition rates, the investment is still sound.

Does Canada have a Marriage Tax Penalty?
by Niels Veldhuis and Jason Clemens
A marriage tax penalty exists if a married couple pays higher income tax than they would have had they remained an unmarried couple.

The Greying of Home and Community Care in Ontario: An Agenda for Reform
by Mark Mullins
A number of reforms could simultaneously tame costs, enhance service, and offer more choice to seniors in Ontario.

The Choices Families Make: Home Schooling in Canada Comes of Age
by Deani Van Pelt
Today, home schooling is not the choice of just a few pioneering families, but a movement espousing innovative educational models.

Welfare & Poverty: Family Matters
by Sylvia LeRoy
The income gap between single- and dual-parent families remains large, which has negative social and economic effects on children.

The Great Salmon Panic of 2004
by Kenneth P. Green
Lost in all the hoopla about PCBs in farmed salmon is the nutritional cost we pay for not eating salmon.

Economic Freedom and Prosperity: Study Confirms What We Already Know
by Amela Karabegovic and Fred McMahon
The second edition of Economic Freedom of North America reaffirms the positive impact economic freedom has on economic prosperity.

World Social Forum No Help to the Poor
by Jayant Bhandari
January’s World Social Forum was positive for those organizing the event, but the real Third World poor got nothing out of it.

Poverty and Rents
by Chris Sarlo
Do the poor pay inordinately high rents?

The Tax You Really Pay
by Niels Veldhuis, Jason Clemens, and Michael Walker
With the release of Tax Facts 13, Canadians can calculate how much tax they really pay.

The Feudal Lords of Special Interests
by Filip Palda
Special interest groups have connived with government to tax us and pocket the money. Street criminals would drool with envy.