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John Robson

Publishing · On our record since 2009

Where this writer stands

Fiscal policy6 pieces

Higher taxes and public spendingLower taxes and tighter spending
“The fundamental problem is the state cannot support all these dependents. And conservatives know it.” Read the piece

Financial regulation2 pieces

Tighter prudential rulesLighter capital rules and more competition
“the solution is prosaic: lower taxes, less regulation, more certainty.” Read the piece

Housing2 pieces

Public supply and demand controlsMarket supply and deregulation
“Certainly one cannot say Carney has fixed the deficit, immigration, housing, or internal trade barriers.” Read the piece

Defence1 piece

Restrain spending and deploymentsHigher spending and more capability
“defence procurement has been a hopeless mess for decades (DND even spends hundreds of millions renting transport services because it lacks basic logistics) yet nobody is punished and nothing changes because we think planes and ships don't matter. Or national security.” Read the piece

Public safety1 piece

Prevention and restraintEnforcement and sentencing
“The police also treat policing hate crime as a part-time job while the politicians treat boasting of compassion as a full-time one.” Read the piece

Health1 piece

Expand public coverageMore private delivery
“no matter how much evidence accumulates that our health-care system, far from being the envy of the world, is unreasonably expensive while condemning large numbers of Canadians to pain, suffering and even death while on waiting lists, there is absolutely no discussion of repealing the Canada Health Act, as if all that suffering didn't matter.” Read the piece

Foreign affairs1 piece

Alliance restraintAssertive alliances and sanctions
“given firm evidence that Chinese Communists are subverting our elections, penetrating our institutions and intimidating our citizens, we do nothing whatsoever. The police don't swoop. The promised foreign agent registry never materializes. Politicians don't stop flying to Beijing. Exactly as if being conquered doesn't matter.” Read the piece

Labour1 piece

Stronger unions and standardsMore flexibility for employers
“a bonfire of the regulations and big cuts to social programs that reward undesirable conduct, from being unemployable to not saving for retirement” Read the piece

Agriculture1 piece

Defend supply managementLiberalize supply management
“But don't dream of touching dairy quotas. In Canada you cannot deregulate anything, let alone everything.” Read the piece

Only opinion columns and editorials are scored. Each piece is read twice by a language model, which records the author's own stance on a policy topic only where the piece argues one, with a quote that must appear in the piece. An author's position on a topic is the average of their pieces, weighted by the model's confidence. News reporting is listed but never scored.

Recent work