For decades, downtown has been the location of choice for corporate Calgary and each weekday some 345,000 Calgarians stream in and out of the core. The majority of these people are commuters on their way to work, arriving by automobile (54.4 per cent), transit (34.5 per cent), and those close enough to walk (9.4 per […]

A prominent and perhaps defining issue in the federal election was the Liberal promise to run deficits of about $10 billion for three years to invest in infrastructure and spur tepid economic growth across the nation.  The Conservative government, running on a promise of modest budget surpluses for the foreseeable future, characterized the Liberal plan […]

The health of a city and the health of its residents are inextricably linked. As Canada continues to urbanize — with nearly two-thirds of us living in cities — there is dramatic association between urban sprawl and chronic diseases such as obesity. As the Ontario College of Family Physicians says: “Sprawl impacts negatively on well-being […]

Although no one would ever mistake me for a Liberal, I’m in favour of Justin Trudeau’s proposal to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana. I follow the lead of distinguished libertarian-conservative thinkers such as Milton Friedman and Michael Walker, who have argued that the state has no business penalizing people for their preference in […]

Modern concerns about poverty and income redistribution often involve proposals for a Basic Income or a Guaranteed Annual Income.  A Basic Income (BI) would provide a specific benefit amount to every citizen which is subject to tax.  It has garnered considerable international support through the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN).  The Guaranteed Annual Income (GAI) […]

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 […]

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 […]

One of the central issues under debate around our government’s tightened rule over foreign SOEs is whether we should differentiate SOEs from non-SOEs. Some of those who disagree with such a differentiation have gone further to praise how China’s SOEs “operate according to conventional business principles.” (Hugh Stephens, Welcoming Chinese SOE Investment Cautiously into Canada, […]

In the aftermath of the Lac-Mégantic disaster, there were several newspaper articles and op-eds discussing the relative safety of transporting crude by rail versus via pipelines. For examples, see this article on the risk of tightened rail regulations, this one on the acceptability of rail, one on the future of oil by rail, and one […]