The payoffs from investing more in applied research collaboration among different kinds of institutions are practical and long-lasting
There are tens of thousands of brownfield sites scattered across Canada – many of them in urban locations. Enter collaborations with applied research. And a Canadian-made solution. Outstanding discovery research occurs at universities across the country. However, far too often this research fails to arrive at the commercial marketplace. Consecutive federal governments have attempted to tackle…
A carbon tax added on top of the various bans, subsidies and tariff we already have in place only worsens regulatory inefficiencies
In the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race, all four candidates hoping to replace Patrick Brown oppose carbon taxes, a centrepiece of Brown’s platform. The federal Conservative Party also opposes carbon taxes. Some commentators see this as a betrayal of Conservative free-market instincts because (supposedly) our choice is between inefficient bureaucratic regulation and the enlightened Liberal…
Solving this seemingly intractable problem should be quite simple, but simply increasing funding will only make the problems worse
Pondering the crisis so many First Nations communities face over water quality, you can’t help but think of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” The ironic dilemma of the mariner is obvious in more than 90 per cent of Canada’s First Nations communities. Most…
It's doubtful. Its plan to “improve” the NEB actually makes it more difficult and costly for business to navigate
By Kenneth Green and Ross McKitrick The Fraser Institute The federal government recently announced its plan to “improve” the National Energy Board. The language of the announcement is all “sunny ways,” promising to be all things to all stakeholders. But the promises are incompatible. The announcement says the new approval process for major energy projects will…
The battle between Alberta and B.C. over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has broad implications for all Canadians
By Steve Lafleur and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute The governments of Alberta and British Columbia are waging an intense trade dispute over the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which would run between Edmonton and Burnaby. But the implications extend far beyond those two provinces. The details of the feud have been well-documented. After B.C.’s…
Recycling seems like a neat solution until we can't dump our garbage on another country and have to deal with it ourselves
China has decided that what goes around doesn’t have to come around – at least not around there. As 2017 came to an end, China stopped importing most recyclables, putting Canadian recyclers in a bind. The Chinese decision also revealed weaknesses in the basic premise of recycling. Many environmentalists regard recycling as imperative for the…
Part 2: Albertans can lead the next economic revolution by pioneering new energy enterprises
Should Alberta be allowed to move its unrefined diluted bitumen to British Coumbia’s tidewater in Burnaby via pipeline and then quadruple tanker traffic through Vancouver harbour, the city that bills itself as the world’s greenest? And does the pipeline proponent, Kinder Morgan, have the permission of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, the unceded…
Don’t blame carbon emissions on weird weather. Corporations and governments have been changing the weather quite intentionally for decades
“How’s the weather?” is far more than a shallow conversation starter. It’s a serious issue. Many would be surprised to know that 100 years ago, the scientific interest in weather surpassed mere observation and advanced into outright modification. A brief survey of mainstream news reports and public documents in the United States confirms a largely…
Canada’s Food Guide revamp is good for people and the planet, thanks in great part to a new information-gathering process
By Courtney Howard Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Ian Culbert Canadian Public Health Association What is a healthy diet? New Year’s diet conversations still abound around water coolers Canada-wide as people debate the merits and shortcomings of sugar, gluten, meat, dairy, tofu and other edibles. Scientific articles, shiny celebrities and representatives of…
The charges against Bill Boyd are related to the altering of shoreline, wildlife habitat and ecological land along a stretch of the South Saskatchewan River
Kenneth Brown of The Clarion Former Kindersley MLA Bill Boyd has pleaded guilty to charges under provincial wildlife and environmental acts, and has signed orders to remedy the damages. Boyd was at provincial court in Kindersley on Feb. 6 before Judge Robert Jackson. Robert Ard, Boyd’s defence lawyer, entered guilty pleas to two charges but…
The benefits of ride-hailing services are many, for both individuals and communities. So what's the holdup in B.C.?
In a well-functioning city, we’ve long taken certain things for granted. We expect law and order, and a reasonable degree of safety. Drinkable water should flow from the taps. A reliable supply of electricity should ensure the lights stay on. Traffic should move. Recently, this list of basic requirements has expanded. We expect cellphones to…
Part 1: The wine versus oil showdown in the West has exposed some fundamental differences – but it's nothing other generations haven't seen
There was only one other car at the Earls Cove ferry terminal last week as I headed home to Powell River. It was a brand new Jeep with a white-and-red Alberta licence plate grinning from the rear bumper. I say grinning because on my part of the Sunshine Coast, you rarely see an old beater…
The environment is only a side issue for an increasingly passionate mob of activists whose assault on the ‘establishment’ is nothing less than a moral crusade
Regardless of your political feelings about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, you have to admit the guy has guts. Not many politicians would have the courage to host a town-hall meeting in a place as openly hostile as Nanaimo, B.C. Immediately upon entering the building last week, the climate bullies jumped on him with a torrent…
The Conservatives can reject their own carbon tax promise and defeat Kathleen Wynne in the June election
When the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party launched its policy platform, the People’s Guarantee, the most controversial proposal was implementing a carbon tax. Then-leader Patrick Brown was both praised and criticized for touting this decidedly anti-free-market concept. Brown, as we know, is no longer in charge. Two of the three declared leadership candidates, Christine Elliott and…
Government green programs impose costs on third parties. Consumers and taxpayers must pay for those policies, and the environment actually suffers
In a 1999 interview, the late Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman remarked that there were good arguments for having government take action to reduce pollution, like smoke from power plants. That’s because the smoke imposes costs on third parties – for example, by dirtying property as well as surrounding public spaces. A power plant produces…
There are tens of thousands of brownfield sites scattered across Canada – many of them in urban locations. Enter collaborations with applied research. And a Canadian-made solution. Outstanding discovery research occurs at universities across the country. However, far too often this research fails to arrive at the commercial marketplace. Consecutive federal governments have attempted to tackle…
