Process Optimization Strategies for U.S. Small Businesses

When it comes to governance frameworks, first nations must return to the basics. Some Indigenous tribes have used modern treaties and self-government agreements to reestablish traditional governing structures, joining an increasing number of communities that have abandoned the Indian Act. Many communities have successfully merged traditional governance and the Indian Act electoral processes, thereby strengthening the First Nation.For certain communities, democratic systems are no longer the solution. In many situations, decades of government oppression have ruined our traditions and lost our teachings. We've evolved and changed. Our governing systems must adapt to our local circumstances. Fairness and inclusion of all Indigenous voices must remain the top goal My first thinking was that it was an unusual name. Much of the game of hockey is played on or near centre ice, but as Luke Smith pointed out in these pages (with apologies to Steve Mason), you don't normally score from there. In fact, the space between the two blue lines is so far from the goal that it is sometimes known as the "neutral zone," which is not a place anyone in politics should ever want to be. You cannot be interested in politics while remaining policy-neutral.More charitably, I believed that it was never a bad thing for people to discuss policy, even if they were willing to officially identify as centrists. There should be a place for everyone in Canadian politics, including the shrinking number of Canadians who open the Globe and Mail editorial page every morning and, between sips of lukewarm coffee—not too hot; not too cold—nod to themselves, thinking, "Yes, that is what I believe as well. That is precisely what I believe.

My final thinking was that the combination.

of "Centre Ice" and "Conservative" generates an inherent and perhaps unresolvable tension. If forced to choose, would these people go with conservatism or the center—which, in politics, is determined by where other people are rather than where you want to be. How far left can you go to occupy the center while still calling oneself conservative, especially after Justin Trudeau has jerked the Liberal Party's reins firmly to the left on social policy, economic policy, and foreign policy?To their credit, the majority of guests at the Centre Ice Conservatives' conference in Edmonton last week are not indifferent on policy, with several holding strong and even conservative views. I did not attend the conference, but I am familiar with the majority of the speakers, including some serious public policy experts among the political dilletantes and journalists. However, an agenda that attempted to unite their points of view would be somewhat odd.Brian Lee Crowley and Dominic Cardy, for example, have been wonderfully hawkish on the Chinese regime's threat to Canada, Western stability, and (most importantly) its own people. Even more so than the previous CPC program, which was (unfairly) condemned for being excessively anti-China. Crowley has also opposed transgender participation in women's sports and the practice of accepting gender self-identification for incarceration—issues that garner widespread attention in the United Kingdom and the United States but almost none in Canada. He also favors revamping Canada's health-care system by incorporating private delivery, choice, and means-tested co-pays to align with our European peers.

Jack Mintz, one of Canada's most famous economists.

recently called for a "tax revolt" (really, a desire for a $70 billion cut in overall taxes—not nothing, but far from the Peasant's rebellion implied by the headline). He has also backed school vouchers, income splitting, and the elimination of supply management, all of which are mainstream economic principles but are political taboo in Canada.Andrew Coyne likewise opposes supply management (referring to it as a "truly hideous policy") and has criticized Canada's ongoing trial with Medical Assistance in Dying. (Update: it is not going well.) He has also stated that Canada's absence of legal abortion limitations is "objectively extreme," and he advocates for a democratic debate over what restrictions, if any, should be imposed.Rick Peterson, a co-founder of Centre Ice (and so likely the most tepidly moderate member of the Goldilocks Gang), ran for CPC leadership in 2017 on a program that featured a 15% flat tax, increased competition, and private health insurance. He also supports reduced freedom for members of Parliament and the imposition of Liberal-style "iron discipline" by the party leader on caucus members.Ironically, a political platform that united all of these viewpoints would be far more radical than anything seen in modern Canadian history. The Canadian elite would condemn it, if not entirely, then at least partially, as being not only beyond the center ice of Canadian politics, but far outside the arena. It would be considered, dare I say, radical.

That is not to say that any of these ideas.

are not valuable, but it demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling good policy with a point on an artificial political spectrum: some good ideas fall outside the Overton window, while others are popular because they are inoffensively ineffective. The Centre Ice Conservatives aim to strike a balance between their bold and original ideas and their alignment with mainstream Canadian politics and the conservative wing. However, their writing is not clear on which center they intend to fill.It is a centrism that strives to be all things centrist to all centrists. It is sometimes defined as the thick center of the public opinion bell curve ("[c]entrist positions … very likely reflect where the vast majority of Canadians see themselves"). Sometimes it is a hazily defined leadership trait ("Centrist leadership" is "being able to establish a position that balances competing and strident views from the outside, and brings them together with a focus and ability to rally a majority behind them"). And sometimes it's just a list of politicians whose only connection appears to be the speaker's personal respect (Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper; Brad Wall and Peter Mackay; Ralph Klein, Bill Davis, and Francois Legault).