A New Competition Act for a New Federal Government
Report of the C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council
The new federal government should revamp parts of the Competition Act to address gaps in the legislation, including making the aim of the legislation on abuse of dominance be to protect against harm to competition in general, rather than harm against particular competitors. This is the consensus view of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council, which held its eleventh meeting on April 18, 2016.
Joint Venture: A Blueprint for Federal and Provincial Marijuana Policy
Canada’s budding legal marijuana market requires federal-provincial cooperation in order to succeed, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Joint Venture: A Blueprint for Federal and Provincial Marijuana Policy,” author Anindya Sen argues that the federal government should retain powers over health and safety regulations, and provinces should have the freedom to design […] National Priorities 2016
The National Priorities 2016 series provides a high level overview of key issues that the federal and provincial governments need to address, and provides an opportunity to highlight policy recommendations made by prior C.D. Howe Institute research on these topics. Fiscal and Tax – Tax Reform Priorities for Canada: Creating More Income to Go Around […] Learning from Mistakes: Improving Governance in the Ontario Electricity Sector
The government of Ontario should move away from controlling electricity planning, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute Report. In “Learning from Mistakes: Improving Governance in the Ontario Electricity Sector,” author George Vegh argues that the government should face more checks and balances when spending electricity ratepayer money. The government should only set broad policy […] Targeted mortgage rules should cool hot markets, ease debt risk: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
December 14, 2015
A fundamental public policy question is how to address the possibility of inflated real estate values and excessively high levels of household indebtedness.
There is little question that these trends have been fuelled by exceptionally low interest rates. However, the Bank of Canada’s mandate is to set monetary policy to achieve the 2-per-cent inflation target. In recent years, that objective has called for exceptionally low interest rates.
This has been supportive to the economy through a number of channels, such as reducing the cost for business investment and helping with international competitiveness through a weaker Canadian dollar. But what if the seemingly low-forever interest rates are…
Bill Robson on the Exchange: What can be accomplished at COP 21
Bill Robson joins his co-panelist ArmineYalnizyan and Goldy Hyder to discuss what they think the likely outcome will be of the UN’s climate change summit in Paris.
Bill Robson on The Exchange: Canada’s Climate Change Initiative
Institute President and CEO, Bill Robson, joins his Big Picture co-panelists, ArmineYalnizyan and Goldy Hyder to talk about Canada’s climate change initiative.
Watching the Watchmen: The Need for Greater Oversight of the Competition Bureau
Report of the C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council
The federal government should create an independent oversight body for Canada’s Competition Bureau to periodically evaluate the Bureau’s performance and help define its strategic objectives. This is the consensus view of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council, which held its tenth meeting on October 22, 2015.
The Future of Poison Pills in Canada: Are Takeover Bid Reforms Needed?
Proposed takeover rules will produce winners and losers and need rethinking, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “The Future of Poison Pills in Canada: Are Takeover Bid Reforms Needed?,” author Anita Anand, a University of Toronto law professor, assesses the rules proposed by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and recommends […] Dump the 120-day takeover rule: Financial Post Op-Ed
By Anita Anand
This month, Suncor Energy Inc. made a hostile bid to acquire Canadian Oil Sands and in particular its 37 per cent in Syncrude Canada Ltd. The Suncor bid raises questions about the appropriate legal regime governing takeover bids in Canada. Securities regulators have not historically operated on the basis of harmonized rules governing defensive tactics that a target board, like Canadian Oil Sands, can adopt prior to or in the face of a bid. This disunity may fade away as the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) stand poised to adopt a new takeover bid regime.
Under the CSA draft rules, a takeover bid would have an irrevocable 50 per cent minimum tender condition. Once met, the rules would require an…
Manitoba’s highly paid teachers: Winnipeg Free Press Op-Ed
By David Johnson
Teacher salaries must be attractive enough to draw talented people into the profession. The interesting question is: is there evidence on how much is enough? In Canada, provinces that pay their teachers more do not achieve better student results.
To come to this conclusion, some background is necessary. The first step is to see how teachers’ salaries stack up versus other earners in the province, as a way of measuring the attractiveness of teaching relative to other jobs. I compared 2013/14 teacher salaries, adjusted for age and education, to earnings of all employees and similarly educated employees in each province.
Surprisingly, teachers’ relative earnings vary a lot depending on the province.…TPP pressure on Canada, but US is super-star in agriculture subsidies: Financial Post Op-Ed
Published in the Financial Post on July 27, 2015
Lawrence L. Herman, founding partner at Herman & Associates, practices international trade law and is a Senior Fellow of the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto.
Americans provide billions in protectionism to dairy that will have to be given up for trade deal.
We rail against Canada’s supply management system. Rightly so. It’s a Soviet-style regime that is out of step with Canada’s international trade interests and objectives.
Every credible Canadian think-tank has said that supply management is a regressive system that distorts the market by guaranteeing dairy, poultry and egg producers a positive return on production, inhibiting competitiveness and, in the…