Industry Regulation and Competition Policy - Op Eds

Published in the Financial Post on March 2, 2011

By Larry Herman and Finn Poschmann

There's something bizarre and unsettling about the Globalive wireless business. We're not sure how it squares with good telecom policy or with ordinary constitutional principles of peace, order and good government.

Maybe this can be reconciled, but there are conflicting issues.

In 2008, Globalive purchased radio frequency spectrum at auction and proposed to start business as a telecommunications carrier. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said no -it found that the company was controlled by a non-Canadian. Under the Telecommunications Act, you have to be Canadian-controlled to operate as a…

Published in the National Post on April 8, 2010

By William B.P. Robson and Colin Busby

Since the early 1970s, “supply management” has subjected Canadian dairy, poultry and egg production to government-mandated cartels. Introduced to increase producer power vis-à-vis intermediaries and consumers, and thus raise farm incomes, supply management supports higher-than-market prices by administering producer prices and restricting farm output through production quotas, while high tariffs prevent food processors and consumers getting alternative supplies from abroad.

The initial allocation of quotas in the 1970s was free; today, most farmers trade existing quotas to one another through provincial exchanges. Generally…

Free the garbage hostages In

Free the garbage hostages: Private collection is often, but not always, best; it's monopoly that needs trashing , (The Globe & Mail, July 17, 2009), Toronto, July 21 – Canadian cities have been hit by a number of municipal strikes that have largely halted garbage service. In a July 17 Globe and Mail essay, Policy Analyst Ben Dachis argues these strikes are fundamentally caused by public monopolies on garbage pickup. Introducing more competition in public service delivery would help prevent lengthy garbage strikes and lower costs for taxpayers.
For the essay click here.