A Convenient Excuse for Climate Inaction: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Published in the Globe and Mail on November 30, 2010
By Mark Jaccard
At Cancun, Mexico this week, world leaders will try yet again to reach a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The frequent excuse made by Canadian governments for inaction as part of reaching a global agreement is that the costs will be unfairly concentrated in specific regions.
Canadians certainly understand this concern, given the widely held assumption that climate policies will especially hurt fossil-fuel-intensive regions. Politicians from Alberta and Saskatchewan have attempted to associate proposals for federal pricing of GHG emissions with the much-maligned national energy program of the 1980s, which residents…
Energy Prices and Alberta Government Revenue Volatility
Taxing Emissions, Not Income: How to Moderate the Regional Impact of Federal Environment Policy
Better Together? The Implications of Linking Canada-US Greenhouse Gas Policies
Power Sharing: Developing Inter-Provincial Electricity Trade
The Competition for Water: Striking a Balance among Social, Environmental and Economic Needs
Alberta faces water scarcity challenges that make it a bellwether region for better water management policies, according to a C.D. Howe Institute study. In “The Competition for Water: Striking a Balance among Social, Environmental, and Economic Needs,” University of Lethbridge professor Henning Bjornlund writes that without a modern system for reallocating access to water, particularly […]Freeing up Food: The Ongoing Cost, and Potential Reform, of Supply Management
Shocker: We don’t pay enough for electricity
Published in the Globe and Mail on January 15, 2010
By Don Dewees
We are paying too much for green power dreams and we are paying too little for electricity. Consumers inOntario and across the country should pay a higher price for electricity, especially in peak periods, to reflectits environmental cost and the cost of new generating facilities.
Electricity prices have been a tricky political issue for the provinces. In May of 2002, Ontario capped pricesat 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour, crippling the new wholesale market.
The province eventually ended up with the Ontario Energy Board, which regulates the electricity sector,setting prices that are not representative of the cost of peak period generation or new…