Today City Council begins deliberating what stays and what goes in the combined capital and operating budget: Action Plan 2015-2018. The Action Plan, currently in draft form, provides a road map outlining expenditure and revenue estimates over the multi-year capital plan (2015-2019) and operating budget (2015-2018). The capital plan, at $7.6 billion over five years, […]
In my last blog post on the subject of gasoline vs. hybrid cars, I compared a conventional gasoline powered Honda Accord to the new 2014 plug-in hybrid version and examined the total KM driven (and associated age of the vehicle) before average consumers could expect to save enough on gasoline purchases to be able to […]
The government of British Columbia released its liquefied natural gas (LNG) tax regime on Tuesday, October 21st. At first glance, it is complex and relatively confusing. This blog post is an attempt to explain the pertinent features and quirks. Interested and patient readers can look at the details here. Suppose you’re a new LNG facility […]
Originally, hybrid cars were marketed primarily to environmentally-conscious consumers. Manufacturers and their marketing departments expected these consumers, who have a stated preference for reduced hydrocarbon emissions and increased environmental protection, to pay a premium for increased fuel economy and lower emissions. Increasingly, hybrid cars are being marketed to a wider consumer base citing increased fuel […]
More choice, better service and lower prices are the objectives behind the federal government’s policy goal of increasing competition in wireless services in Canada. To realize this goal, a variety of polices, starting with set-asides of spectrums in the 2008 AWS Spectrum Auction, have been adopted, and the government seems to never tire of reminding […]
In November, Canada’s Prime Minister will travel to Asia for two leaders’ summits. On November 10-11 China hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s twenty one leaders. Four days later, on November 15-16, the focus broadens to economics and security at the G20 leaders’ summit in Australia. Each summit host is focusing laser-like […]
BEPS It is virtually impossible for those concerned with international tax and public finance not to be touched by the G20-sponsored Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) “BEPS” – “Base Erosion and Profit Shifting” – project (February 2013 OECD scoping paper and July 2013 Action Plan). The CBC’s Sunday Morning radio program has devoted […]
For most of human history, we have struggled to solve problems of too little information. Recently, the cell phone texters among us have presented society with a concise phrase that identifies the opposite problem: “too much information” or TMI. While the phrase normally is associated with meaningless online posts that in previous generations would not […]
On June 17, the federal government issued its approval of the Northern Gateway project, approving the recommendation of the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel that the project be approved with 209 conditions. Both Thomas Mulcair, federal NDP leader and Justin Trudeau, federal Liberal leader, came out strongly against the decision. In the NDP’s press […]