The premier is ignoring very real problems across Ontario in order to settle a personal vendetta with Toronto city council
It’s no shock that Ontario Premier Doug Ford wishes to shrink the size of Toronto city council. Conservatives like small government. Ford, a former Toronto city councillor, and his late brother Rob, a former mayor of Toronto, were known to be libertarian. They regularly made it clear that they believed that government should be leaner…
The Ontario PC leader is either suffering an ideological identity crisis or is one of the biggest political opportunists we’ve seen in some time
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown’s 78-page campaign manifesto reminds me of the old line: if you can’t beat them, you may as well join them. Brown’s recently-released People’s Guarantee makes 147 promises. But despite vowing to bring change for Ontario voters in 2018, the only obvious change is that he would spend even more…
The province’s manufacturing sector may find itself even less competitive soon due to developments in the United States
How do you kill 75,000 jobs and turn your valuable location into a disadvantage? If you’re the Ontario government, you: start a transition to renewable energy driven by politicians without any cost-benefit analyses; when people with expertise in the energy and power sectors give advice on technical issues – for example, how much duplicate power…
The Ontario Progressive Conservative leader has released a map for his election campaign that dovetails with broadly-held principles
In October, I helped end the long-running discussion of who Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown is. A month later, Brown has helped end the long-running discussion of what he stands for. Last weekend’s Progressive Conservative policy convention in Toronto was highlighted by the release of a 78-page document entitled the People’s Guarantee. Designed like a…
The Working Families campaign targeting Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown is just plain wrong – and stupid – and that means it will fail
Go negative, sure. But don’t fib. The Working Families group has a new ad out. If you live in Ontario, you’ve likely seen it. If you don’t, you haven’t. But the ad is worth talking about because of the issues it raises. Working Families describes itself as a group that was “created by members of…
The province pays extraordinary rates to solar, wind and biofuel generators. But the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine
By Kenneth P. Green, Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute The Ontario government’s rigorous pursuit of renewables has increased electricity costs far more than necessary. The government recently released an update to its long-term energy plan, projecting that the cost of electricity for homes and businesses will keep rising over the next 20…
Ontario electricity rates for industry are among highest in North America, thanks to a series of bad government policy decisions
By Ross McKitrick and Elmira Aliakbari The Fraser Institute Ontario manufacturers are feeling the pinch from high electricity prices. But how high are the province’s industrial electricity rates relative to other jurisdictions? Ontario has the highest residential electricity costs of all Canadian provinces. Ontario electricity prices increased twice as fast as the national average over the past…
Brown has the intelligence, ability and tools to rebuild this tattered province after 14 years of Liberal mismanagement
Ever since Patrick Brown won the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership with 61.8 per cent of eligible votes on May 9, 2015, the man-who-would-be-premier has been the source of mystery and confusion for many Ontarians. Brown’s impressive victory over Christine Elliott, a high-profile MPP and wife of late federal Tory finance minister Jim Flaherty, rocked the…
The province’s high electricity prices – driven by wrong-headed policies – are responsible for a staggering 75,000 manufacturing job losses
By Ross McKitrick and Elmira Aliakbari The Fraser Institute Soaring electricity costs have devastated Ontario's manufacturing sector. In the 1990s and into the 2000s, Ontario was a low-electricity-cost jurisdiction. This competitive advantage helped attract business and foster economic growth in the province. But in recent years, due largely to the inefficiencies of the Green Energy Act (2009),…
The last thing the federal Liberals can afford is to sit on the sidelines in Ontario in June. A provincial voter swing could portend federal calamity
With just two years until the next federal election, Canadians should expect to see much more of the prime minister as he works to bolster his party's prospects in 2019. Any time the Liberal image is threatened, expect Justin Trudeau to rush in and save the day. And Ontario voters should expect Trudeau to be…
It’s no shock that Ontario Premier Doug Ford wishes to shrink the size of Toronto city council. Conservatives like small government. Ford, a former Toronto city councillor, and his late brother Rob, a former mayor of Toronto, were known to be libertarian. They regularly made it clear that they believed that government should be leaner…
