Jason Clemens and Dexter
Samida

Fraser Institute Coltem nists

WE Canadians pride
ourselves on our gener-
ous nature.

We wrap ourselves in a
nationalist quilt of compassion
and generosity that soothes
any of our concerns over fal-
tering productivig, the brain
drain, stagnating living stan-
dards, or any other thorny
economic issues — particularly
when it comes to comparing,
ourselves to our southern
neighbours.

If compassion and generos-
ity were measured simply by
the size of government then
Canadians might have a case
that we are indeed more gen-
erous than our American
cousins. The latest statistics
ftom the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) indi-
cate that as a share of the
economy, Canadian govern-
ments will spend 29% more
than U.S. governments in
1999.

Canadian governments
will, unfortunately, also collect
27% more in taxes than our
friends south of the border.

So, Canadian governments
tax and spend more than
American governments. But is
larger government indicative
of greater compassion and
generosity?

Absolutely not!

The historical meaning of
compassion according to
scholar and author, Marvin
Oiasky was “suffering cogeth-
er.” Modern day compassion,
again according to Olasky, has
evolved to mean an “under-
standing of suffering.”

In either case, government
cannot be compassionate since
ho one can contract emotional
commitment, We cannot pay
people to possess a sense of
empathy or to suffer with oth-
ers in order to help them.

Governments are also not
indicators of generosity since
by definition generosity must
be voluntary. Individuals and
community groups can be
generous because they are free
to choose to provide goods
and services through the
donation of time and money.

When we speak of compas-
sion and in particular generos-
ity, we should discuss the
extent of voluntary actions by
individuals in the form of

donated time and money.

Generosity, by its nature is
ditficulr to measure. However
a study released recently by
Vhe Fraser Institute, the
Private Charitable Generosity
Index (twailable at
www. frase Tute.ca}
attempts to quanufy private
charitable generosity for the
Canadian provinces and US.
states.

The generosity index com-
piles data on the number of
tax-filers who donated to reg-
istered charities as 2 measure
of the extent of generosity, the
percentage of private income
donated to charities as an indi-
cator of the depth of generosi-
gy, and per capita volunteering
tor registered charities as a
barometer of non-monetary
generosity.

The goed news for western
Canadians is that the western
provinces lead Canada in gen-
erosity.

Saskatchewan tops the
Canadian list with a score of
8.3 out of a possible 10, fol-
lowed closely by Alberta (8.2),
British Columbia (8.1), and
Manitoba (8.0). Interestingly,
Manitoba achieves the top
position in two of the three
components but its poor per-
formance in per capita volun-
teering reduces its overall
score signiticandy.

Saskatchewan's steady per.
formance in all three compo-
nents enabled it to attain the

Sev To give page 20

NEWS photo Julie Iverson .

Study in silhouette

VISITORS to Lonsdale Quay have been able to enjoy an unusually sunny win-
ter this year.

would like to congratulate our

ennium Sweepstakes

Grand Prize

inners

Free Groceries For A Year!

Store Manager Bruce Brown with assistant manager sr Burke
Keller presents $5,000 worth of Save-On-Foods gift
certificates to Grand Prize Winner Valerie Hoye.

SAVE-ON-FOODS

Store “Manager Bruce Brown presents $5, 000 worth of
Save-On-Foods gift certificates to Grand Prize Winner
Lucyanne Joseph