Cory talks about how school choice can break union dominance
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
200.47427
Summary
In this episode, I talk about the end of the monopolies and monopolies, and the rise of independent liquor stores and breweries. I also talk about how the Canadian Union of Public Employees overplayed their hand when they held Ontario parents hostage with their demands for a raise for public workers.
Transcript
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You know, once upon a time, the government and the public service unions,
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let's start with a story, you know, some Alberta history,
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they controlled every aspect of beer production and sales in Alberta.
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Unionized government-run liquor stores offered only a handful of brands of warm beer,
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and sales were only available during banking hours.
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Those of us old enough to remember, remember it poorly.
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Breweries were unionized as were the trucking companies delivering the beer to the stores,
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That meant that pretty much every summer, one of those unions would go on strike,
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and there'd be a beer shortage in the province.
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I remember the massive lineups outside liquor stores
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as people would clean them out in anticipation of strikes.
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Now, back then, Big Rock Brewery was a small brewery.
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and they were having a hard time establishing themselves
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because, of course, they had unionized government liquor stores
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and they sold from a small outlet out in southeast Calgary.
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I think they were in Dover, if I recall, and sold directly to bars.
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So they had their little niche, but they were having a hard time.
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During a big brewery strike in 1984, something changed.
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It was one of those regular strikes, but Albertans this time had somewhere to go,
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so they flocked to Big Rock, and they bought their beer as fast as the brewery could produce it.
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People discovered there were beers besides Labatt's and Molson,
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It was the beginning of the end of the monopolies.
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Albertans had found choice, and they liked it, and they wanted it.
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and one of his first acts when he became Alberta's premier was to privatize liquor stores.
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Suddenly, consumers could choose from dozens of beers,
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With a solid base of independent liquor stores that they could sell to,
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small breweries and now distilleries are starting to form and flourish.
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The quality's higher, and there's never shortages or strikes.
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Now, getting more domestic, or I should say contemporary,
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the Canadian Union of Public Employees overplayed their hand
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with outrageous demands for a double-digit raise for education workers
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Entired citizens and parents whose children had already had their education
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Ford, unfortunately, responded with a hammer and overplayed his hand
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by preemptively invoking the notwithstanding clause
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and try and force the education workers back to their jobs.
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But the clear losers, though, are the students.
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Students across Canada are going to continue to lose
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And I mean, sure, there's some private schools out there,
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the government has a monopoly on providing education,
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and when consumers can't vote with their feet or wallets,
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And quality and stability of product will suffer.
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Education is a product, and students are the consumers.
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It's time to move to models that best serve those consumers,
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Students should be treated as assets to be drawn in,
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and schools need to be incentivized to attract them.
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Union-based pay scales protect teachers who are mailing it in
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while underpaying some of the exceptional teachers
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Schools should be competing for the better teachers as well,
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The strikes, standoffs, and instability won't end
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Let the unions compete for the teachers as well.
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Monopolies and near-monopolies stunt innovation and quality.
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It doesn't matter if the monopoly is government-run or private.
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The end users of the product are going to be the ones who lose in the end.
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Parents won't forget being put over a barrel like that.
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If we want to see some of the best educational and healthcare outcomes on Earth,
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we need to break the union-dominated monopolies.
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We're already spending more than just about anybody else on Earth,
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The current Lethbridge feed cream prices are as follows.
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and corn's also sitting at $4.70 per metric ton.
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December Minneapolis futures lost 5 cents at $9.45,
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with local hard red spring bids for December movement
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with delivered bids for December trading at $19.97 per bushel.
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nearby red lentils are trading at $0.32.5 a pound,
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December live cattle lost $0.92 at $1.52.12 per 100 weight.
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our gun rights would have been taken long, long ago.
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helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations
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educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands
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