Op-Eds
Now that Canadian policy-makers are back from the climate summit in Paris, there will be lots of talk about targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The federal government has indicated that the previous government’s target – reducing emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 – is a lower bound for ambition. And the impending federal-provincial meetings could easily get hung up on how any national target might be divided up among the provinces. But a far more useful conversation would focus on the importance of carbon pricing.
Emissions-reduction targets and carbon pricing are closely related. A broadly based carbon price creates powerful incentives for businesses and households to reduce their GHG emissions. And…
The Liberal government’s platform pledged to revise the federal National Energy Board (NEB) process for approving pipelines. There may be desirable improvements to the process – particularly deepening consultation with Aboriginal peoples. However, the government also wants the NEB to weigh upstream carbon emissions (i.e. the emissions from the extraction of the oil that a pipeline will transport) against approving a pipeline. The NEB currently views upstream emissions as outside the scope of its reviews. Changing that approach would be a mistake.
Nixing any pipeline on the basis of upstream emissions would be wrong for two reasons. First, stranding Canadian oil is damaging economically and not the best way to reduce Canada’s…
In the run-up to the Paris climate meetings, several Canadian provinces are developing or improving their carbon-pricing policies. They should be applauded for using market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But businesses are nonetheless worried about how they will be affected, and this is too important an issue for governments to sweep under the carpet.
First, let’s be clear about what business “competitiveness” really means. For any Canadian business, its ability to compete successfully against its domestic and foreign rivals depends on many things. Wages, regulations, corporate taxes, the quality of workers, access to efficient supply chains, proximity to markets and foreign-exchange rates are just a few…
By Robin Boadway and Benjamin Dachis
Alberta’s much-anticipated royalty review panel has begun drilling down with expert and public consultations. It can find common ground by proposing that the province adopt a best-in-class cash-flow tax for all energy resources in the province.
The status quo needs changing. The province holds auctions in which companies purchase the rights to extract provincially owned oilsands, natural gas or conventional oil. Companies that buy conventional oil or natural gas deposits then pay the government a tax based on the amount they produce. These taxes are called gross-revenue royalties, because companies pay the province a share of their gross production revenues.
The royalty…
By Benjamin Dachis and Robin Boadway
The new Alberta government’s promise to launch a Royalty Review Panel has threatened to make a bad year for Alberta’s oil and natural gas companies look worse. But instead of adding to the nightmare caused by declining prices, the review could lead to a better tax design that could raise more revenue without discouraging investment.
Alberta collected $46-billion in non-renewable resource revenues between fiscal years 2009-2010 to 2013-2014. That represented more than 20 per cent of total government revenues over that time. Until the mid-2000s, the province relied mostly on revenue from natural gas. Now, most non-renewable resource revenues come from oil sands bitumen and…
