Bill Robson on the Exchange: Should Taxpayers be bailing out Bombardier?
Institute President and CEO, Bill Robson, joins his Big Picture co-panelists, Goldy Hyder and Armine Yalnizyan, to discuss the Canadian aerospace company’s woes and whether public money should fund a private enterprise.
Bill Robson on the Exchange: Canada’s Pipeline Future
Bill Robson, joins his Big Picture co-panelists, ArmineYalnizyan and Goldy Hyder to talk about Canada’s pipeline future now that Keystone XL has been rejected by the U.S. and there is a new federal government in Canada.
Manitoba sets the bar on recycling: Winnipeg Free Press Op-Ed
By Daniel Schwanen and Aaron Jacobs
Visitors to Manitoba, in the heart of Canada, are lucky to experience the province’s unique and intimate blend of nature and industry, culture and industry, learning and relaxation. And they will also, quite uniquely, encounter frequent, large and colourful advertisement alongside roads, urging consumers to recycle their beverage containers. They are everywhere.
Manitoba used to be a noticeable laggard in the collection rate for these containers. No more. Progress in the past five years alone has been swift, pulling rates within close reach of those in other provinces. There is every reason to believe that this upward swing will continue.
While the advertising no doubt helps…
Why tolling carpool lanes is the right move for Ontario: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
By Benjamin Dachis
Love ’em or hate ’em, carpool lanes on Toronto highways look here to stay – having gained the endorsement of the Premier of Ontario. Tolling these carpool lanes is the way to go.
The Pan Am Games set the stage. The province installed 235 kilometres of temporary carpool lanes across the Greater Toronto Area. The province required that vehicles have three occupants to access them during July. For most of August, vehicles must have two occupants to access the lanes.
The Pan Am lanes were always billed as temporary. But the province has had long-standing plans to build carpool lanes across the region. The province has permanent carpool lanes on highways in Mississauga, Halton Region and north Toronto…
Benjamin Dachis: The costs of congestion: National Post Op-Ed
Published in The National Post on March 11, 2015
By: Benjamin Dachis
Benjamin Dachis is a senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute.
The following is an excerpt from a C.D. Howe Institute report entitled “Tackling Traffic: The Economic Cost of Congestion in Metro Vancouver.”
Voters in Metro Vancouver will soon decide whether to approve a transportation and transit plan financed with a region-wide 0.5 percentage point increase in the provincial sales tax. In an upcoming plebiscite, voters across the 21 municipalities in Metro Vancouver … must consider how to deal with the bane of most metropolitan areas — growing congestion. They will need to weigh whether the economic costs of…
Toll lanes should be transportation legacy of Pan Am Games: Toronto Star Op-Ed
Published in the Toronto Star on November 26, 2014
By: Benjamin Dachis
Benjamin Dachis is a senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute and the author of “Congestive Traffic Failure: The Case for High-Occupancy and Express Toll Lanes in Canadian Cities.”
The Pan Am Games will last only a few weeks next summer. But the province wants the benefits from the Games to last long afterward. Its plan to create temporary carpool lanes on Toronto highways during the Games will worsen traffic next summer on Toronto’s highways. If the province wants to use the Games to benefit drivers for years to come it should convert the temporary carpool lanes into toll lanes.
The province recently unveiled its transportation…
Tackling Traffic: The Economic Cost of Congestion in Metro Vancouver
The hidden costs of congestion are between $500 million and $1.2 billion a year for the Metro Vancouver area, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Tackling Traffic: The Economic Cost of Congestion in Metro Vancouver,” author Benjamin Dachis finds that when congestion causes people not to travel it stifles the […] The Public Purse versus Private Wallets: Comparing Provincial Approaches to Investing in Economic Growth
Canadian provinces have parted ways when it comes to their share of public- versus private-sector investment, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “The Public Purse versus Private Wallets: Comparing Provincial Approaches to Investing in Economic Growth,” author Philip Cross, former Chief Economic Analyst at Statistics Canada and C.D. Howe Institute Research Fellow, […] Évaluation de projets publics: risques, coût de financement et coût du capital
Le coût des investissements du secteur public dans les projets d’infrastructures sont sous-estimés et doivent comprendre les risques encourus par les contribuables, selon un rapport publié aujourd’hui par l’Institut C.D. Howe. Dans « Évaluation de projets publics: risques, coût de financement et coût du capital », les auteurs Marcel Boyer, Éric Gravel et Sandy Mokbel constatent que […] The Valuation of Public Projects: Risks, Cost of Financing and Cost of Capital
The costs of public sector investments in infrastructure projects are underestimated and should include the risks to taxpayers who backstop them, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe institute. In “ The Valuation of Public Projects: Risks, Cost of Financing and Cost of Capital,” authors Marcel Boyer, Eric Gravel and Sandy Mokbel […] How Ottawa Can Deliver a Reformed Canada Post
The federal government should progressively allow new entrants to bid for some of the mail services currently provided by Canada Post, says a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “How Ottawa Can Deliver a Reformed Canada Post,” author Benjamin Dachis, Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute, notes that Canada Post, a Crown […] Cars, Congestion and Costs: A New Approach to Evaluating Government Infrastructure Investment
The true costs of congestion in Canada’s cities are higher than previously estimated, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Cars, Congestion and Costs: A New Approach to Evaluating Government Infrastructure Investment,” author Benjamin Dachis says there are social and economic costs to congestion that governments should take into account […]