Ben Dachis – Keep Easing Foreign Ownership Rules on Airlines
From: Benjamin Dachis To: Minister Marc Garneau CC: Minister Navdeep Bains Date: November 7, 2016 Re: Keep Easing Foreign Ownership Rules on Airlines Last week, your government announced that it would increase the limit of foreign ownership on airlines operating domestic routes. That move looks like it is already resulting in new entrants to the airline […]Damage Control: Abuse of Dominance and the State of Private Remedies in the Competition Act
Report of the C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council
The federal government should cautiously expand the kinds of anti-competitive acts that private parties – and not just the Competition Bureau – can take legal action against in Canada to include abuses of dominance. However, the government should not otherwise lower existing thresholds for private parties to commence proceedings to enforce competition laws and should make no more than incremental changes to private rights of action. Although there was considerable difference of opinion regarding the extent and benefits of private party interventions, this is the majority view of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council, which held its twelfth meeting on…
Donald Dewees – Automated Vehicle Safety Still Depends on the Driver
From: Donald N. Dewees To: Federal and Provincial Ministers of Transportation Date: September 29th, 2016 Re: Automated Vehicle Safety Still Depends on the Driver The billions of dollars in projected benefits from accident prevention by autonomous (self-driving) vehicles will only be realized if drivers use those features and if they do not respond to increased […]Daniel Schwanen – Exporting Canadian Culture
From: Daniel Schwanen To: The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage Date: September 27th, 2016 Re: Exporting Canadian Culture You have engaged Canadians in a review of policies that support the creation and promotion of Canadian cultural content. This review is an excellent opportunity to clarify the principles that will underpin the government’s cultural […]How Ontario can cut electricity bills without using tax dollars: Toronto Star Op-Ed
The Ontario government has signaled that it is going to find a way to reduce your electricity bill. For this to work, it should stop relying on hiking your taxes to lower your electricity bill and instead focus on real reform of the electricity system.
Most previous plans to reduce electricity bills relied on having taxpayers or other electricity users foot the bill for lower electricity costs only for some. The first plan was the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, which came straight from tax dollars. That was replaced by the Ontario Electricity Support Program for low-income households. The province puts the cost of that program on other electricity users.
The government also recently eliminated the Debt Retirement…
Konrad W. von Finckenstein – Promote and simplify subsidies for Canadian content
From: The Hon. Konrad W. von Finckenstein, Q.C., To: The Hon. Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage Date: September 6th, 2016 Re: Promote and simplify subsidies for Canadian content In his recent Intelligence Memo, “Time to decide if cultural policy is to promote winners or protect the losers,” Lawson Hunter ends his memo with the note […]Donald N. Dewees – How Big Are the Benefits of Autonomous Autos?
From: Donald N. Dewees To: Federal and Provincial Ministers of Transportation Date: August 29, 2016 Re: How Big Are the Benefits of Autonomous Autos? Proponents claim billions of dollars in benefits from accident prevention by autonomous (self-driving) vehicles. Many assume that autonomous vehicles will prevent 80% of motor vehicle accidents which seems reasonable when 93% of accidents […]Thorsten Koeppl – Stop Tinkering With Mortgage Insurance Rules – Just Price It Right
From: Thorsten Koeppl To: The Hon. Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance Date: August 25th, 2016 Re: Stop Tinkering with Mortgage Insurance Rules – Just Price It Right Last week news emerged that Finance Canada is floating the idea of a deductible on mortgage insurance. This will be another attempt by the Federal Government to rein in […] Rhys Kesselman – Attacking High Housing Prices by Making Property Tax Progressive
From: Rhys Kesselman To: Ministers of Finance in BC and Ontario Date: August 18, 2016 Re: Attacking High Housing Prices by Making Property Tax Progressive In July the B.C. government legislated a steep property transfer tax on foreign purchasers of homes in the Metro Vancouver area. While the new transfer tax is overtly discriminatory by nationality, […]Lawson Hunter – Time to decide if cultural policy is to promote winners or protect the losers
From: Lawson Hunter To: The Hon. Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage Date: August 16, 2016 Re: Time to decide if cultural policy is to promote winners or protect the losers As you move forward with the detailed consultations on the Cultural Policy Review the key issue is whether your government plans to promote “industrial policy” as opposed to […]Vancouver’s New Foreign-buyer Tax – Beware Of Unintended Consequences: Globe And Mail Op-ed
Last week, a new tax introduced by the B.C. government came into effect with the goal of slowing down the unrelenting increases in Vancouver-area house prices. The additional 15-per-cent transfer tax specifically targets foreign nationals looking to buy real estate.
We must ask whether it will meet its stated objective of making Vancouver housing more affordable for the so-called middle class and, perhaps more important, what are its unintended consequences?
Whether or not Vancouver housing prices fall – or their increase moderates – as a result of this tax depends on a host of factors. There are many different possible reactions by foreign buyers.
I’ll focus on three possible scenarios.
In the first, foreign…