Op-Eds
Published in the Financial Post on January 10, 2012
By Philippe Bergevin and Finn Poschmann
With an eye on the Christmas shopping season, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty last fall stood up for “irritated” Canadian consumers who persistently complained about high retail prices at home when cheaper buys were to be had south of the border. But rather than reducing barriers to cross-border bargain hunters searching for competitive prices, for example by increasing duty-free limits, the Minister pressed the Senate national finance committee to severely investigate.
Now, when the mail is bringing statements that report in black and white on our successes and failures in finding Christmas bargains, Statistics Canada has…
Published in The Toronto Star on July 21, 2011
By Benjamin Dachis and Don Dewees
After years of concern that Ontario would not have enough electricity, the province has increased generation capacity and now has the problem of periodically having too much electricity. The best way to solve this problem is, perhaps counterintuitively, to pay producers to stop generating.
In many hours so far in 2011, particularly during periods of high wind production and low demand, wholesale buyers were paid to take electricity, but the result has been higher costs for Ontario consumers.
In a normal market, suppliers would not produce power when there is little demand because the price is too low to cover costs. However…
Published in the Toronto Star on May 19, 2011
by Elizabeth Brubaker and Benjamin Dachis
As the City of Toronto looks to plug its $774 million budget hole, it has kick-started a comprehensive service review. Although the city will need to find savings in many areas, the service review should consider the large potential savings from contracting out the water and sewage services that it currently provides.
The city operates all eight of its water and wastewater treatment plants, the water distribution system and the sewage collection system. In 2009, the city spent $820 million in capital and operating expenses for water and wastewater — almost twice the $420 million it spent on waste collection, recycling and…
Published in the Financial Post on March 23, 2011
By Benjamin Dachis
In a bid to pass this week's federal budget, the government has pledged -on top of numerous green subsidies -$400-million over the coming fiscal year to resuscitate a recently expired home energy-efficiency retrofit program. The government's ecoENERGY Retrofit proposal extends a program that burns money to warm Canada's houses -with little to show in energy efficiency or environmental benefits.
This extension is the latest in a long line of Liberal and Conservative "Challenges," "Plans" and "Projects" that have provided hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize individuals and businesses in hopes that they will reduce activities that cause…
Published in the Financial Post on Dec 16, 2010
By Jan Carr and Benjamin Dachis
In attempts to stimulate the creation of “green” jobs and technologies, some jurisdictions around the world have created programs that guarantee renewable electricity generators payments per kilowatt-hour (kWh) that are much higher than market prices. This approach of paying a premium to certain generators to achieve renewable goals, while overcharging all electricity consumers, is of dubious economic wisdom. But insofar as governments insist on doing it some ways are less bad than others.
Consider the cases of Ontario and British Columbia.
Both provinces have adopted the guaranteed price approach of paying a premium for…
