Op-Eds
Published in the Globe and Mail on November 30, 2010
By Mark Jaccard
At Cancun, Mexico this week, world leaders will try yet again to reach a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The frequent excuse made by Canadian governments for inaction as part of reaching a global agreement is that the costs will be unfairly concentrated in specific regions.
Canadians certainly understand this concern, given the widely held assumption that climate policies will especially hurt fossil-fuel-intensive regions. Politicians from Alberta and Saskatchewan have attempted to associate proposals for federal pricing of GHG emissions with the much-maligned national energy program of the 1980s, which residents…
Published in the Globe and Mail on January 15, 2010
By Don Dewees
We are paying too much for green power dreams and we are paying too little for electricity. Consumers inOntario and across the country should pay a higher price for electricity, especially in peak periods, to reflectits environmental cost and the cost of new generating facilities.
Electricity prices have been a tricky political issue for the provinces. In May of 2002, Ontario capped pricesat 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour, crippling the new wholesale market.
The province eventually ended up with the Ontario Energy Board, which regulates the electricity sector,setting prices that are not representative of the cost of peak period generation or new…
The Thursday, August 7, 2008 edition of the National Post features an opinion piece by William Robson, President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, which discusses the Ontario government’s requirement that sellers of gasoline mix 5% ethanol in their fuel. Robson cites problems for consumers associated with ethanol being added to gasoline, such as water-laden ethanol separating and sinking to the bottom of gas tanks in boats and ethanol causing the breakdown of parts commonly found in marine, chain-saw and pump engines. However, what Robson finds most troublesome is that the premise behind forcing ethanol on consumers is misguided. While replacing gasoline and other fossil fuels with ethanol is supposed to lessen the emission…