Manitoba Hydro’s President and CEO Jay Grewal spoke on January 30 to members of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, and shared the utility’s plans to meet Manitoba’s future energy needs. They include a search for more purchased power from private entities (which would...
Crown Corporations
Etam: Automobiles, Human Nature, and the Challenge of Building Cars that People Actually Want
Some people out there have an inner itch to do things different. Maybe it’s art, or music, or some other glorious pastime that we as the rest of humanity benefit from, far, far more than we pay. What sort of car these types drive is fascinating; usually something...
What 100 Million “Unbanked” Nigerians Can Teach Canadians about Central Bank Digital Currency
Despite credit cards, e-transfers and online banking having already made money go pretty much digital, the Bank of Canada is busily working on a much bigger transformation. Canada is one of about 100 countries that – in uncanny synchronicity – several years ago joined...
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...
Featured News
The Swedish Response to Covid-19 versus Canada
In a recent New York Times article, David Wallace Wells asked, “How did No-Mandate Sweden End up with such an average pandemic”. Let’s be clear. This admission from the New York Times, who tried to destroy the response to Covid-19, starting in April 2020 and...
Draconian, Anti-Science Measures During the Pandemic Has Led to Loss of Trust in Our Institutions
Candida Auris is a fungus that, unlike most fungi, can survive in a human body. It is capable of spreading within the body, resulting in an agonizing death. For unknown reasons the fungus is spreading at a rather alarming rate. So far, cases have been confined to long...
In Our Backyard, Recall Hydro’s Bill 36
Manitobans interested in politics, economics, indigenous and/or environment issues should read a new book, “In Our Backyard, Keeyask and the Legacy of Hydro Development”. After digesting the information and messages provided by this worthy work, you might find...
It’s High Time Canadians Flew Freely
Canada’s federal travel mandates are so oppressive, even apolitical international agencies have stepped up to condemn them. The International Air Transport Association has added its voice to the Official Opposition, citizens, airline staff fired for their vaccination...
Via Rail, a Business That Would Not Be Created Today
A question investment managers and individual investors often (or should) ask themselves: “If I didn’t already own this stock, would I buy it today?” By any criteria, Via Rail, a Crown corporation owned by the federal government, is not a good investment - even under...
Manitoba’s PC Government Half Billion Annual Hydro Heist
Before a NDP government and it’s politically appointed Manitoba Hydro board faded out after the Pallister Conservatives won in 2016, it was generally accepted by all political parties, and the media, that Hydro’s then ultra-low electricity rates were “Manitoba’s...
The Case for Selling Crown Corporations
This is far from the best time for most Manitobans. Covid-19 has poisoned the prairie province’s economy, the finances of the government, education, healthcare, small businesses and more. The reining party is on the ropes in a difficult environment that favours an...
Is Space the Final Frontier – Imagine?
Other than Covid 19, inflation, the collapse of Hong Kong as a free society, and a continuing bull stock market, the last two years has also been a time of space “development. We have also seen two companies offer space tourism, the development of the largest rocket...
Crown Utilities’ Unfair Advantages Reduce Competition, Innovation
Largely unique among state-owned enterprises, ‘SEOs’, worldwide, Canadian Crown corporations have two key advantages over current and future private sector competitors: non-taxable status and access to low-cost public sector borrowing rates. Other implicit edges...
Backgrounder – A Crown Corporation’s Failure to Safeguard Assets: National Capital Commission
The National Capital Commission (NCC) is a Crown corporation owned by the Canadian government. The NCC owns and manages over 10 percent of the lands in the National Capital Region. Moreover, the corporation owns and manages several properties, including Canada’s six...
Crown Corporations Can Evade Disaster If They Are Sold Off
The recent unhappy news that Canadian taxpayers will soon be at least partially bailing out the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the owners of Nalcor, which is completing the massively over-budget and behind-schedule Muskrat Falls power plant, may be the least...