HONOURING THE CALGARY SCHOOL

    The Calgary School is, at its core, an ad-hoc band of four amigos — all University of Calgary political science professors — who shook Canadian political academia out of its Marxist and socialist rut, and not only spoke truth to power, but wrote it in bestselling textbooks, books and most accessibly, in newspaper columns, that influenced thought and politics clear across the country.
    On Monday, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation gave its annual tax fighter award to Barry Cooper, Tom Flanagan, Rainer Knopff and Ted Morton during an elegant affair at the Calgary Petroleum Club “in recognition of providing leadership, mentorship and intellectual ammunition in the battle for lower taxes, free markets and limited and accountable government.”
    It’s impossible to fully measure their impact on Canadian society, but it’s safe to say that Canada would be a much poorer place, both literally and figuratively, were it not for the rigorous scholarship and accessibility of the work of these four men and the many people they mentored and influenced with their particular brand of common-sense politics.
    Fiscal conservatism and balanced budgets used to be scoffed at for decades, as did ideas of entrepreneurship and smaller government. These four men helped make those ideas worthy of debate and implementation.