Energy analyst Mark Mills says we're decades away from renewables providing 100% of the power that drives our economy
Environmental groups, including the David Suzuki Foundation, remain enamoured of renewable energy, telling followers that the “global push for cleaner, healthier energy is on. With costs dropping dramatically, renewable energy is becoming the best choice for the environment and the economy.” The Green Party of Canada is on board, touting the idea that Alberta “should be ready”…
Exploration is the critical first stage in mining development. Yet many provinces don't meet their own guidelines
Every year, the Fraser Institute publishes a survey of senior mining company executives that assesses policy environments around the world and the mineral potential of jurisdictions. Those two components are used to create an investment attractiveness index. One thing miners repeatedly tell us is that they’re concerned about obtaining exploration permits: how long does it…
The delay of Keystone XL, likely by at least a year, is another blow to Canada and a particularly sharp blow to Alberta
Progressives (and some conservatives) have largely stymied President Donald Trump on getting his wall across the U.S. southern border built. Ironically, those same progressives have given the president another wall – encompassing Canada and thwarting oil exports to countries other than the United States. The latest slab in the wall is a ruling by a…
Alberta’s economy has suffered in recent years. A major factor was world oil prices, which plummeted in 2014. And limited pipeline capacity, which fetches Canadian oil producers depressed prices for Canadian oil exacerbated Alberta’s economic woes. A number of metrics indicate that oil and gas investment in Alberta is in steep decline. According to a…
By subsidizing wind and solar power, the government put its green agenda ahead of Ontarians
There is still much work to be done on behalf of Ontario’s energy consumers and taxpayers. In 2005, I released a study called Pain Without Gain with two co-authors (University of Guelph professor Ross McKitrick and air quality analyst Joel Schwartz). The subtitle of the piece was that shutting down coal-fired power plants would hurt Ontario.…
Once again, the National Energy Board will review the contentious project. It's paralysis by analysis
On Groundhog Day on Feb. 2, Punxsutawney Phil in the United States and Wiarton Willie in Canada ceremonially emerge from their dens. If they see their shadows (meaning it’s a sunny day), they return to their dens for an additional six weeks of winter. And who can forget the classic movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray…
The government should admit that its carbon tax will significantly burden families for a climate benefit too small to measure
It took some poking and prodding and committee testimony, but now we know what the bill will be for a $50-per-tonne federal carbon tax. In a report to the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, University of Calgary assistant economics professor Jennifer Winter revealed the bottom line. Using energy consumption data…
Ottawa ignores the evidence with Bill C-48, which will make it more difficult to ship oil and byproducts to lucrative Asian markets
As virtually everyone knows by now, the federal government decided to address Canada’s inability to get pipelines built from Alberta to tidewater the old fashioned way. It nationalized the last viable pipeline project, the twinning of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, and paid $4.5 billion for the existing pipeline. With that purchase, we have…
As centres for jobs, education and innovation, municipalities play an outsized role in Canada’s continued prosperity
By Kenneth P. Green and Josef Filipowicz The Fraser Institute For mayors, councillors and city staff in Canada’s largest cities, housing affordability is – or should be – top of mind. With the cost of owning a home out of reach for many, and the ability to rent hampered by virtually non-existent vacancies in the…
Nationalizing the project is far from ideal. It’s an admission that Canada’s regulatory approval process is profoundly broken
Last week, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that the federal government will buy the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project for $4.5 billion. The government plans to construct the pipeline through a Crown corporation, with an expectation of selling it or otherwise transferring ownership in the future. The project will nearly triple the capacity to move…
Environmental groups, including the David Suzuki Foundation, remain enamoured of renewable energy, telling followers that the “global push for cleaner, healthier energy is on. With costs dropping dramatically, renewable energy is becoming the best choice for the environment and the economy.” The Green Party of Canada is on board, touting the idea that Alberta “should be ready”…
