Op-Eds
Published in The Globe and Mail.
The federal government and many provinces are working toward reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with Ottawa committing to achieving a “net-zero” GHG economy by 2050. However, governments need to proceed more cautiously with two of their key policy levers – zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and heat pumps – and let consumers lead the way.
Reducing emissions comes at an economic cost. The trick is to ensure Canadians still have the products and services they need while minimizing the cost of each GHG tonne not emitted. This is not an easy task in a complex, energy-intensive economy in which Canadians feel their budgets are stretched. Including upfront and continuing costs, ZEVs and heat…
Published in the Globe and Mail.
In evaluating courses of action, corporate decision makers tend to prioritize present and private benefits while discounting long-term costs – especially external ones imposed onto others. Economists term this “market failure,” which are to be publicly regulated by way of taxation, fines, mandates, subsidies or other “nudges.”
Such myopia is not unique to private actors, though. Politicians and public bureaucrats are typically more short-sighted, focusing on maintaining and expanding their power.
Regulatory agencies in the United States, for example, are increasingly subject to political interference and, because they are specialized, are often incapable of addressing the cascading…
Published in the Financial Post
One reason Canada’s per capita GDP has stalled and may continue to stagnate, putting Canadians’ living standards at risk, is that we struggle to build large projects cheaply and quickly.
The federal government has finally acknowledged there is too much uncertainty in getting major projects approved and has promised certain “fixes,” including recently enacted amendments to its controversial Impact Assessment Act (IAA), which its opponents tagged the “No more pipelines act.” Are those amendments on the right track and will they help get projects built? In our view, no. Instead, we need serious fixes to avoid further litigation and investment uncertainty.
The IAA amendments are a…
Published in the Globe and Mail
This country needs to have a serious conversation. One that recognizes the challenges posed by a warming world – not least an increase in wildfires, drought and heat waves that have affected almost every Canadian – and grapples with the challenge inherent in matching our climate policy ambitions with taxpayers’ appetite to pay for them, government capacity to implement them, and society’s ability to transform its energy use.
Other countries can only dream of Canada’s enormous reserves of natural resources, and our standard of living depends greatly on exports of minerals, coal, hydroelectricity and especially, oil and gas. As with most human actions, extracting and using these resources…
Published in the Financial Post
Policy-makers around the world are trying to strike the right balance between reducing emissions, promoting economic growth and keeping energy secure, affordable and reliable. Getting the balance right is especially important in a country, like Canada, that produces large amounts of energy both for export and for domestic consumption in a cold climate.
Energy forecasts and scenarios from agencies such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) can help inform governments’ energy policies and regulations. But they are only forecasts, and they shouldn’t be baked into economic policy, especially when doing so pre-emptively damages our most important export industry and a pillar of our living…
