Power Glut: Why Ontario Residents Pay For Costly Electricity They Don’t Need, And What To Do About It
After years of looming power shortages, Ontario faces a periodic problem of excess electricity supply. This costly oversupply, which the province must take under fixed-price contracts with generators, leads to higher electricity bills for consumers. In “Plugging into Savings: A New Incentive-Based Market Can Address Ontario’s Power-Surplus Problem,” authors Benjamin Dachis and Donald N. Dewees recommend […]Pulling the Plug on Monopoly Power: Reform for the Canadian Wheat Board
Ending the monopoly power of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) makes sense, owing to its apparent inability to deliver strong returns for farmers, while limiting farmers’ choices on sales practices, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Pulling the Plug on Monopoly Power: Reform for the Canadian Wheat Board,” authors […]Abolish Ownership Restrictions in Telecommunications
Report of the C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council
It is time to end foreign ownership restrictions in the Canadian telecommunications sector, to make better use of competitive forces in providing telecommunication services to consumers. This is the majority view of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council, which held its inaugural meeting June 17, 2011. The meeting addressed the following question: “Should the federal government end existing foreign ownership restrictions in Canadian telecom because of their impact on competition?”
A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services
Too many drinking water and wastewater systems across Canada threaten public health and the environment, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services, Elizabeth Brubaker reports that many of the municipally owned and operated systems that treat […]Give Them Credit: Financial Post Op-Ed
Published in the Financial Post on March 16, 2011
By Philippe Bergevin
Visa and MasterCard, the two biggest credit cards companies operating in Canada, are currently targets of serious allegations. The Commissioner of Competition alleged in a recent referral to the Competition Tribunal that these companies, through rules they impose on merchants, have limited competition in the marketplace, resulting in increased costs to businesses and, ultimately, consumers.
These allegations have been vigorously disputed by the two targeted companies. Further, some of the economic arguments underpinning the legal case are, in my view, flawed and the solutions prescribed by the commissioner are unlikely to foster, and may…
A Way Out of the Globalive Mess: Financial Post Op-Ed
Published in the Financial Post on March 2, 2011
By Larry Herman and Finn Poschmann
There’s something bizarre and unsettling about the Globalive wireless business. We’re not sure how it squares with good telecom policy or with ordinary constitutional principles of peace, order and good government.
Maybe this can be reconciled, but there are conflicting issues.
In 2008, Globalive purchased radio frequency spectrum at auction and proposed to start business as a telecommunications carrier. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said no -it found that the company was controlled by a non-Canadian. Under the Telecommunications Act, you have to be Canadian-controlled to operate as a…
The Eco-Fee Imbroglio: Lessons from Ontario’s Troubled Experiment in Charging for Waste Management
Picking up Savings: The Benefits of Competition in Municipal Waste Services
Better Together? The Implications of Linking Canada-US Greenhouse Gas Policies
Solving Spectrum Gridlock: Reforms to Liberalize Radio Spectrum Management in Canada in the Face of Growing Scarcity
Free Up Our Food Supply – Phase Out Farm Quotas: National Post Op-Ed
Published in the National Post on April 8, 2010
By William B.P. Robson and Colin Busby
Since the early 1970s, “supply management” has subjected Canadian dairy, poultry and egg production to government-mandated cartels. Introduced to increase producer power vis-à-vis intermediaries and consumers, and thus raise farm incomes, supply management supports higher-than-market prices by administering producer prices and restricting farm output through production quotas, while high tariffs prevent food processors and consumers getting alternative supplies from abroad.
The initial allocation of quotas in the 1970s was free; today, most farmers trade existing quotas to one another through provincial exchanges. Generally…