# Canadian Separatism **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 9, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-separatism/476422 "2008-12-09T18:05:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 69
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-separatism/476422/69 "2008-12-16T19:07:23Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Another ironic twist… You imply that **Sam Stone** would not find your cites believable, if they are from “left-wing” researchers. Yet you apparently do not believe the Fraser Institute, because they are “right wing”! Here’s the thing, if I’m permitted to briefly hijack this thread. I believe we’ve had debates around here on whether economics is a real science or not. I’d say it’s at least partly a scientific discipline, but I’ve noticed that often when you look at economic studies, you can predict what the conclusion will be if you know the researcher’s (or their employer’s) biases. That doesn’t seem very scientific to me. I’ve seen similar things in the economic debates here, most recently the one on [thread=495799]economic stimulus for Canada[/thread] where the New Deal was discussed. In that thread we can see the following posts: > [@Does Canada Really Need Economic Stimulus?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-really-need-economic-stimulus/475533/9): > > The New Deal didn’t do anything, except rack up debt. And then FDR had to raise taxes because the deficit was running out of control, and that cratered the economy again. > > [UCLA Economists - The New Deal prolonged the depression by 7 years](http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx?RelNum=5409). and then > [@Does Canada Really Need Economic Stimulus?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-really-need-economic-stimulus/475533/15): > > The New Deal wasn’t perfect, but to claim that on net it served to prolong the Depression is simply a bad joke, the last vestiges of a zombie Hooverism that refuses to stop stumbling blindly forward no matter how much evidence is fired into its slowly decaying corpse. _Unemployment had reached over 24%_. Yet the two UCLA professors cited claim “The economy was poised for a beautiful recovery”. It is to laugh. > > […] > > This isn’t wacky leftist nonsense from me. This is mainstream economic theory, reflected in the views of the clear majority of economists precisely because it matches the evidence so well. A battle of cites showing that the New Deal was either a terrible idea, or a good (if imperfect) idea. So which is it? Since we know **Sam Stone** is a conservative while **Kendall Jackson** is more left-wing, we could predict what they’d think of the New Deal even before reading their posts, and of course they’d be able to support their opinions. And both of these posters have a good reputation for their knowledge of economics. I realize mine isn’t as good as theirs – my strong points are elsewhere – but while I don’t think Quebec’s economy is perfect, and it’s certainly not as good as Alberta’s, it isn’t terrible either (I can see it; I live here) so I’m sure I can find some evidence that some economic decisions by Quebec’s government (even when left-wingers were in power) have had positive effects. The Fraser Institute is a right-wing think tank, and it’s based in Western Canada. We can expect it to focus on the problems with Quebec’s economic policy, and choose to report the economic variables that prove this. But if I find economic studies by left-wing economists at the UQAM, I’ll expect them to focus on the economic variables that either show Quebec’s economy isn’t doing as badly as **Sam Stone** would think, or that businesses in Quebec aren’t taxed as heavily as **Sam Stone** thinks they are (the latter is what the report I linked to indicates). But I’m not going to believe that the conclusions of either the Fraser Institute or the UQAM’s Chaire d’études socio-économiques are absolute fact. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-separatism/476422)._