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1. Flawed federal carbon-pricing plan will hurt economy

   Last week the Trudeau government unveiled its updated (and long-awaited) climate change plan dubbed “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy.” The plan includes 64 new measures and $15 billion in climate change-related spending, which ...

2. Canada should rethink its carbon-pricing policies

   Appeared in the Edmonton Sun, October 21, 2020 It’s widely acknowledged among economists that carbon-pricing is the most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. While tackling climate change is a priority, existing ...

3. Carbon Pricing in High-Income OECD Countries

   Most economists consider human-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions an unintended negative externality of production and consumption. A negative externality occurs when the effects of producing or consuming goods and services impose costs on a third party ...

4. The impact of the carbon tax on Canadian industry

   Last month, an Ecofiscal Commission report found that Canada must adopt a carbon price of $210 per tonne by 2030 to meet its Paris targets—assuming it relies on the carbon tax alone. The report estimates that this would mean a 40 cent per ...

5. Canada’s carbon tax hampers key industries, may spur ‘carbon leakage’

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald, August 22, 2019 With Canada’s carbon tax set to reach $50 per tonne in 2022, many Canadian industries are bracing for potential cost increases. Not only will they pay the tax on their own emissions, but they’ll pay higher ...

6. The Impact of the Federal Carbon Tax on the Competitiveness of Canadian Industries

   With Canada’s federal carbon tax set to reach $50 per tonne in 2022 it is often argued that Canadian businesses will become less competitive as a result of higher energy costs. For this reason, firms may relocate to countries where climate-change policies ...

7. Despite court victories, carbon pricing hardly out of the woods

   Appeared in the Globe and Mail, July 29, 2019 Ottawa’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act has scored significant wins in two provincial courts. But the constitutional hurdles are hardly behind it. The federal carbon tax and backstop legislation, now in ...

8. Our eighth-best carbon policies

   Economists talk about “first-best” policies, by which—we’re a little illiterate—we actually mean “best” policies. With less offence to the language, we go on to “second-best” policies, “third-best” policies and so on, for as many numbers ...

9. Report swings and misses at carbon price 'myths'

   In a previous blog post, I explored whether the “10 Myths about carbon pricing in Canada” recently published by the Ecofiscal Commission were really all that mythical. The previous post looked at myths one to five. This post will look at ...

10. Canada’s flawed carbon pricing

    Appeared in the Edmonton Sun, May 8, 2019 The first test, that provinces will be able to resist the new federal carbon tax, has concluded. And opponents of the federal carbon tax have come away empty-handed. In a split 3-2 decision, last week the ...