Big Topics & Big Ideas
Crown Corporations
Reinventing Transit for the 21st Century
Canada’s first subway line, which opened in Toronto in 1954, was 7.4 kilometers long and cost $6.8 million per kilometer—$76 million per kilometer in today’s money. That seems a bargain compared to a subway line Toronto is now constructing at a projected cost of well...
Building 21st Century Transit Systems For Canadian Cities
Policy Series 241
Revival of Rail Transit in Canada Questioned by Latest Policy Report
WINNIPEG, [March 12 2024] Canada's transit landscape is experiencing a profound transformation as eight major cities embark on the ambitious journey of developing rail transit systems. This marks a significant departure from the conventional wisdom of the 1950s when...
Featured News
There’s Nothing Fair About Canadian Health Care
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
The Work from Home Revolution: Data and Policy Implications
The rise of remote and hybrid work has brought about a significant shift in how people access employment opportunities, reducing the need for physical commuting. This article examines the latest data for major metropolitan areas in the United States (with over one...
The Fox in the MPI Hen House?
Canada’s economy is slowing, Manitobans are being buffeted by dramatic interest rate hikes and are worried about impacts on the economy and employment. Policy makers hope that higher interest rates will reduce Canada’s high inflation rate as people respond to higher...
Panama Canal Drying Up Woes Could Have Benefited Canadian LNG – If Only We Had Any
There’s a disturbance in the force of global shipping, as if a major transit point started slipping away. There’s a very serious problem occurring a few thousand miles to the south of us, one that Canada could have taken tremendous advantage of, if only we had built...
Stefanson: A Great Opportunity to Exit Liquor Retailing
When one thousand Liquor Mart workers walked off their job Tuesday, Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross called it a “last resort.” “We hope it ends sooner rather than later,” Ross said at a press conference. That’s funny. Many...
Will They Support Indigenous Backed Corridor?
Manitoba has a chance to prove it’s not the weakest link in an agreement struck between it and the other Prairie provinces to explore the possibility of building a deep-water harbour at Port Nelson on the Hudson Bay. Manitoba must do its part to not mess this...
Unpredictable Futures and Missing Services
Manitoba has a problem. Actually, it has a lot of problems but proper cell phone and internet service is a glaring one. Many years ago, as in about 150 years ago, Manitoba, as it is today, was a land of opportunity. Farming was starting to take hold, the fur...
Improving Transportation Access and the Economy in Winnipeg
The debate continues about the Route 90 expansion (Kenaston Boulevard) and whether it is a good investment for Winnipeg. Some arguments have been tabled to the extent that there is no use in expanding highways, or that transit would be better, or that nothing should...
MPI to Take a Large Loss?
Unsurprisingly, with a government automobile insurance monopoly, MPI’s history is marked by politics
Cox: Downtown Rethink
This article entitled People in Toronto won't stop working from home and it's impacting the city paints a relatively negative picture about downtown prospects - noting that Toronto office vacancy rates have just hit their highest level since 1995. Looks like the...