The citizens and taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador received important news late in 2018: an autopsy of a horrific historic financial debacle (Churchill Falls) and the beginning of an inquiry into the questionable new Muskrat Falls hydro-electric project. The long...
Prince Edward Island Energy, or PEI Energy, is a Crown-owned electric merchant power provider (but not a utility) for Canada’s smallest province by area or population. As it is spending heavily on expanding its generation capacity, it has negative free cash flow....
Using an intrinsic value method, and discounting to the present, ML&L’s projected future free cash flows, as the company is today, but taxed at statutory rates, the range of estimates is $12.13B to $84.91B, with a tighter range of a median (midpoint of the array...
Nova Scotia Liquor Control Commission, or ‘NSLC’, is the monopoly Crown corporation which controls and retails all beverage alcohol in that province. Using an intrinsic value method, and discounting to the present, NSLC’s projected future free cash flows, as the...
The choice we face is clear: a modest expansion of greenfield development or greater housing poverty For 18 years, I have been monitoring international housing affordability, as author or co-author of the Demographia Housing Affordability series. The latest...
The April 1982 Saskatchewan election proved to be a major turning point in the province's history. Over its nine years in office, the Devine government commenced and completed numerous policy initiatives in spite of considerable challenges including two recessions. ...
All Canadian provinces have laws in place that punish people for texting or talking on cellphones while driving. But the rising number of tickets indicates people are just not listening. Jurisdictions with distracted driving laws have actually seen an increase in...
All Canadian provinces have introduced legislation to punish people for using cellphones while driving. But, the legislation doesn’t appear to be working. The number of distracted driving tickets suggests that people just aren’t listening. Rather than ratcheting up...
Buried in Manitoba Hydro’s website in the section describing new projects is the noble statement “It’s our generation’s turn to invest”. The investment being referred to is a $34-billion bet that two new hydroelectric dams ( Keeyask and Conawapa), the associated...
Executive Summary This analysis arrives at approximations of the value of SaskPower, a provincial Crown corporation owned by the government, and thus the citizens and taxpayers, of the province of Saskatchewan. The valuation ranges could be useful in determining...
Provincial, or ‘Crown’ ownership of public utilities is a very common feature of life in Canada, and, until recently, rarely questioned. These very large companies are the monopoly providers of electricity, water, and sometimes gas, in all but a few Canadian...
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy, an independent research institute based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, released today an independent valuation of the potential market value of SaskPower, the provincial Crown electric power utility owned by the citizens and taxpayers of...
Executive Summary In 2011, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducted a study of 27 member countries to assess the size of the national government-run enterprise sector. The study examined the number, employment and economic value of...
Governments have always had a tendency to claim new responsibilities and new regulatory powers. They have also proven to be tenacious business owners. Once Crown corporations are created and have met their purpose, politicians seem to find it hard to let them go and...
Today, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy issued: Crown Corporations & Government Divestment authored by Jan Pavel. Many Canadian Crown corporations were divested in late 1980s and 1990s. Two decades later, a large majority of the privatizations have proven to...