Canada can manage dairy supply without breaking its TPP promises: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Published in the Globe and Mail on July 27, 2015
Daniel Schwanen is vice president of research at the C.D. Howe Institute.
On Tuesday, the trade ministers of 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement will meet in Maui, the first such encounter since the U.S. Congress granted Trade Promotion Authority to President Barack Obama last month.
With this “fast track” authority in its pocket, Mr. Obama’s administration can credibly commit to concluding trade agreements with other countries. It is now quite possible that the negotiations, which Canada joined in 2012, could be completed this year.
The TPP encompasses economies accounting for about 40 per cent of global income. It would…
Deep-6 the High-5 Ontario electricity program: Financial Post Op-Ed
Published in the Financial Post on July 24, 2015
Benjamin Dachis is a Senior Policy Analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute. Anindya Sen is the author of the C.D. Howe Institute study Peak Power Problems: How Ontario’s Industrial Electricity Pricing System Impacts Consumers.
The cost to an industrial business of consuming electricity during a single High-5 hour is $52,000 per MWh
A clumsy Ontario government program threatens Ontario’s industrial businesses with inordinately high electricity costs this month. The result is that businesses either shut down production or go off-the-grid to save money. But there is a better way.
July is historically the hottest month of the year in Ontario, giving July…
An Opportunity not to be Wasted: Reforming Ontario’s Recycling Program
The government of Ontario should make individual producers responsible for recycled products while permitting them to achieve recycling goals as they see fit, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “An Opportunity not to be Wasted: Reforming Ontario’s Recycling Program,” author Aaron Jacobs urges Ontario to follow the lead of other provinces, notably Manitoba, […] Why Canada’s Royalty Rates Are Shortchanging Musicians: Globe And Mail Op-ed
Published in the Globe and Mail on February 20, 2015
By: Marcel Boyer
Marcel Boyer is the author of the recent C.D. Howe Institute publication “The Value of Copyrights in Recorded Music: Terrestrial Radio and Beyond.”
Anyone who watched this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony saw musicians calling for “fair pay across all platforms” through higher royalty rates, including radio and the Internet. Artists in Canada should be protesting too: The competitive value of recorded music is about 2.5 times greater than the current level of royalty payments.
Authors and composers (music publishers) and performers and makers (record labels) own the copyright for a set period on their musical works and…
Will TV viewers get better value and choice from pick-and-pay?: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Published in the Globe and Mail on March 23, 2015
By: Benjamin Dachis and Lawson Hunter
Benjamin Dachis is a senior policy analyst and Lawson Hunter is a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and co-author of “Scrambled Signals: Canadian Content Policies in a World of Technological Abundance”. From 2003 to 2008, Mr. Hunter served as executive vice-president and chief corporate officer of Bell Canada and BCE Inc.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) wants to give Canadians greater affordability and choice in their television viewing. But will the CRTC’s Thursday ruling, mandating partial channel unbundling, help on either of these counts?
Starting next…
How U.S. price envy makes us forget about economic facts: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Published in the Globe and Mail on December 10, 2014
By: Fin Poschmann
Finn Poschmann is vice-president of policy analysis at the C.D. Howe Institute and chair the organization’s Competition Policy Council.
Monday this week was a bad day for markets in Canada; Tuesday was a no good, very bad day for economics.
James Moore, the federal Industry Minister, followed through Tuesday on the government’s promise to address the “Canada-U.S. price gap,” aimed at ensuring that Canadians do not pay “unfairly” more than Americans or anyone else for the same goods.
Back in 1974, when the federal opposition offered price controls as a way of addressing inflation, prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s response was…
Peak Power Problems: How Ontario’s Industrial Electricity Pricing System Impacts Consumers
The Ontario government should scrap its peak-demand electricity-pricing program for large industrial electricity users in order to lower costs for Ontario households, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Peak Power Problems: How Ontario’s Industrial Electricity Pricing System Impacts Consumers,” author Anindya Sen suggests that this program is responsible for one-quarter of the […] Simplifying the Rule Book: a Proposal to Reform and Clarify Canada’s Policy on Inward Foreign Direct Investment
Ottawa should end the economic review of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Simplifying the Rule Book: a Proposal to Reform and Clarify Canada’s Policy on Inward Foreign Direct Investment,” author A.E. Safarian warns that Canada’s FDI regime needs reform, including scrapping the vague “net-benefit […] Railroad Blues: How to Get Canada’s Rail Policy Back on Track
The federal government should not continue to unduly favour grain rail shipments at the expense of other sectors, which include forestry, mines and energy, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Railroad Blues: How to Get Canada’s Rail Policy Back on Track,” author Benjamin Dachis argues that recent and potential future government intervention […] The Value of Copyrights in Recorded Music: Terrestrial Radio and Beyond
English Canada’s current copyright framework for recorded music is shortchanging artists, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “The Value of Copyrights in Recorded Music: Terrestrial Radio and Beyond,” author Marcel Boyer finds that the competitive value of recorded music is about 2.5 times greater than the current level of copyright […] Telecommunications and Broadcast Policy in the New Technological Age
Report of the C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council
The legislative, regulatory and institutional framework governing the Canadian telecommunications and broadcast sectors is outdated to the point of dysfunction, and requires a fundamental overhaul. This is the consensus view of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council, which held its eighth meeting on October 23, 2014.
The Competition Policy Council comprises top-ranked academics and practitioners active in the field of competition policy. The Council, chaired by Finn Poschmann, Vice President, Policy Analysis, at the C.D. Howe Institute, provides analysis of emerging competition policy issues. Professor Edward Iacobucci, Osler Chair in Business Law…
Who Watches the Watchmen? The Role of the Self-Regulator
Provincial governments should take steps to improve consumer protection in the rules and powers of self-regulating organizations (SRO), according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Who Watches the Watchmen? The Role of the Self-Regulator,” author Robert Mysicka finds that, for certain self-governing professions, the public interest is not being adequately protected.