CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – Australia has joined the club of power-market pandemonium created by heavy-handed government intervention. Wholesale electricity prices have doubled, equivalent to a $50-per-tonne carbon tax. Investment has come up short after Australia decommissioned 10 per cent of its power capacity since 2012. More bad news is expected. Consumers in the populated states will […]

To no one’s surprise, Alberta did not slay the deficit dragon in its most recent budget. Or even introduce new weaponry for deficit slaying, or offer any new solutions to the problem. Instead, the red ink has spread and the hope seems to be that black gold will one day wash it away. Alberta is leaning on […]

Some city councillors are overstaying their usefulness due to a political system that breeds conformity and undermines transparency, says a University of Calgary political scientist. That means Calgarians rarely “throw the bums” out at election time even when they might deserve it, said Anthony Sayers of the U of C’s School of Public Policy. “City […]

MEDICINE HAT, Alberta — Kurt Remple, a toothless, unemployed, struggling alcoholic in Medicine Hat, the curiously named prairie town in Alberta, is a success story of sorts. Five years ago, he was living under a bridge and surviving on free meals from charities. Today, he lives in a small but tidy one-bedroom apartment in a […]

A University of Calgary study suggests that patient care is suffering from an overuse of computers in hospitals and doctor offices. In the latest study, Dr. Myles Leslie from the School of Public Policy looked at health-care workers in the intensive care units of three U.S. hospitals. He found some doctors and nurses spent up […]

Calgary’s homeless population is at the lowest mark in a decade, according to the latest provincewide head count. But the president and CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation said while the 11 per cent drop from the city’s peak homeless population in 2008 is encouraging, there are still challenges ahead for those living on the […]

For decades, Alberta has been seen as the land of boom or bust. When oil prices surged above US$100 a barrel, the economy took off like a rocket. When it sagged, jobs and investment in the oilpatch vanished. From premiers Lougheed to Notley, the remedy to this dizzying roller-coaster ride has been rolled up into […]

A new report says changes to Alberta’s royalty regime will help make the province more competitive than its neighbours for conventional oil investment. The paper out Monday from the University of Calgary School of Public Policy found that changes to the royalty system will bring the marginal effective tax and royalty rate for conventional oil projects […]

On behalf of The School of Public Policy, I offer sincerest condolences to the family of former Premier Jim Prentice. The School counts Jim as one of our early and ardent supporters. Mr. Prentice was a principled and honourable man in business and politics who was held in high regard by allies and opponents alike. […]