A former chair of the National Energy Board lauded a panel’s recommendations to overhaul Canada’s energy regulator, saying it will bring clarity and won’t drag out the pipeline review process. Gaetan Caron, former NEB chair and fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy told BNN he hopes Ottawa adopts changes to the […]

A report looking at how to modernize the National Energy Board (NEB) is calling for a complete overhaul, suggesting that it be replaced with two new agencies and its leadership moved from Calgary to Ottawa. A five-member expert panel was appointed last fall to look at the structure, role and mandate of Canada’s national energy […]

A new study done by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy indicates while Calgary’s population has been rising, there has been a steep decline in affordable rental units. Ron Kneebone of the School of Public Policy looked at rental units per 1,000 people across Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary between 1990 and 2016. During […]

OTTAWA – Corporate Canada is bracing for the latest economic challenge out of Washington: a tax-cutting plan for U.S. businesses that many fear would pose a considerable threat to Canadian competitiveness as well as Ottawa’s bottom line. The White House announced a tax-reform package Wednesday that included a proposal to significantly slash the top U.S. […]

The number of people receiving income support in Alberta has jumped 28 per cent in the past year and the vast majority of that increase is among people who are looking for work — a consequence of federal EI benefits running out. “That’s what’s happening here,” said University of Calgary economist Ron Kneebone, who has been delving into the […]

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 […]