Kathleen Wynne, the new Premier of Ontario, recently stated her willingness to consider implementing new methods to raise revenue to help fund expansion of public transit. Furthermore, the 2013 Ontario Budget presented by Minister of Finance Charles Sousa Thursday, specifically indicates that the Province is committing to convert select high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) into high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes as a potential option in this regard. A plan on the conversion is to be brought forward by the end of the year.
environment
April 28, 2013
2:00AM
Earlier this month the Fraser Institute published a report sharply critical of one of the flagship policies of the Ontario government, namely the Ontario Green Energy Act (GEA). We found that the Act is costing Ontario over $5 billion annually but yields negligible environmental benefits, and that equivalent or greater benefits could have been achieved using conventional pollution control measures at less than one-tenth the cost.
April 17, 2013
2:00AM
Carbon taxes are once again dominating the discussion over energy policy in Alberta, where Environment Minister Diana McQueen has proposed a sharp hike to Albertas carbon levy. Presently, large emitters in Alberta are required to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity (that is, emissions per unit of production) by 12 per cent, or face a levy of $15 for every tonne they come up short. The new proposal would hike the emission intensity target to 40 per cent, and raise the levy to $40. Nice round numbers, to be sure, but extremely ambitious ones.
March 18, 2013
3:00AM
Thomas Mulcair, federal NDP leader and Leader of the Opposition, has recently been berating Canadas environmental performance as he travels in the United States: In the U.S. people know how to read, he said. They know that Canada is the only country that has withdrawn from Kyoto. They know that the Conservatives cant possibly meet their Copenhagen targets [on greenhouse gas emissions] precisely because of the oilsands. They have to stop playing people for fools. In another presentation, Mr.
January 24, 2013
2:00AM
On November 6, 2012, the citizens of the United States decided to maintain, essentially, the status quo: they re-elected Barack Obama as President, left the United States House of Representatives solidly in Republican hands, and left the United States Senate under the control of the Democratic Party. But as with all U.S. elections, there are implications for Canada, which, for better or worse, is usually pulled by the tides of American regulation and economic prosperity or the lack thereof.
September 28, 2012
2:00AM
Following the U.S. governments delay in approving the much-hyped Keystone XL pipeline, many pundits turned their attention to the possibility of a new pipeline from the oilsands to BCs west coast that would allow Canada to ship larger amounts of oil to world markets, which currently offer a premium price relative to the U.S. Midwest.
June 28, 2012
2:00AM
The High Priests of the Green Religion in Vancouver City Hall are about to please their supporters with another innovation that will save Mother Earth from the users of automobiles who poison the atmosphere with carbon emissions and cause traffic congestion and deaths.
May 25, 2012
2:00AM
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy deserves credit for a number of courageous policy decisions during his presidency. Bringing France back into the NATO military command structure, leading NATO into and through Libya, challenging the West to get serious about Irans opaque nuclear program, and staying the course in Afghanistan despite the wars unpopularity all come to mind. But building windmills off the Normandy coast doesnt fall into that category. This is a bad idea for at least two reasons.