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1. Ontario sweeps Drive Clean into the dust bin

   Premier Doug Ford once again injected some rationality into environmental policies in Ontario. In the latest foray, the province will end its “Drive Clean” program, a form of what’s generally known as Inspection and Maintenance (or I/M ...

2. Ontario coal phase-out did not end ’smog days’

   Jennifer Keesmaat, chief planner for the City of Toronto, has been tweeting about how phasing out coal in Ontario has made “smog days” a thing of the past. She also credits the coal phase-out with enabling Toronto to meet its city ...

3. Risky business—the clean tech gamble

   Governments across Canada are betting big (carbon tax) money on clean tech. Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta have all directed funds from carbon pricing into ventures promoting “clean tech” (a.k.a. technology that provides ...

4. Where red tape grows, growth in housing development may suffer

   New housing is a key component to urban growth, and regulation that adds costs and slows housing development can restrain its supply. A recent series of Fraser Institute studies presents new data measuring how regulation affects ...

5. Mining exploration spending sharply declining in Ontario

   Mining exploration spending is tightening in Ontario. In 2011, exploration spending peaked, amounting to $1.07 billion of investment in the province. In 2015, the story is much different. Natural Resources Canada is predicting that ...

6. The collateral damage of Ontario’s greenbelt

   Appeared in the Waterloo Region Record and Guelph Mercury Canada’s largest cities are growing rapidly and what were once sparsely populated rural areas are quickly becoming city neighbourhoods. Driving north of Toronto brings you through cities like ...

7. Who Could Object to a Carbon Tax?

   Appeared in The Province, Huffington Post, and Okanagan Saturday, Dec 5, 2014 Carbon taxes are back on centre stage in Canada, after a new “bipartisan” Ecofiscal Commission came out in favour of the idea. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is also talking ...

8. Climate Change: It’s Not the Science, It’s the Policy

   Appeared in VancouverSun.com The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its latest “Synthesis Report” drawing together the findings of the most recent three-volume set of the Fifth Assessment Report. The Assessment Report is ...

9. The misguided attraction of energy conservation

   Appeared in the Financial Post At the end of March, the CEO of the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) issued a directive regarding the implementation of Ontario's "Long term energy plan," which spells out  what the provincial energy regulator ...

10. Never underestimate the potential for bad policy

    Appeared in the Toronto Sun and Owen Sound Sun Times Back in 2005, the Fraser Institute published a policy study examining the Ontario government's decision to shut down coal-fired power generation in the province. We observed that while the ...