Taxpayer handouts to private corporations are always thorny. They inevitably mean that another business' tax dollars go straight to the pockets of their competition. This distortion also means that dollars better spent elsewhere by taxpayers, or even by governments,...
The ride-sharing industry, UBER specifically, is disrupting traditional transportation. UBER provides people with an alternative choice from taxis and buses for their transportation needs. This type of service increases the competition in the choices for people: one’s...
The cancellation of the Energy East pipeline project by TransCanada Corporation, citing delays caused by the regulatory process, newly lengthened and thickened by Ottawa, is emblematic of forces conspiring against rational energy and regulatory policy. The Canadian...
Many of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers such as: Tesla, Uber, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Nissan, GM, and Ford along with some other less-common brands are working on and planning to release driverless cars or driverless...
“Ahead, Thar Be Dragons.” The world of 2023 is a scary place. One major war is raging, with others probably on the way. The Pax Americana that has given us freedom of the seas and allowed global trade to flourish might be breaking down. International piracy,...
Today, Canada’s natural gas sector is seeing its decade of darkness due to federal policy. And it’s not because the opportunity wasn’t there. It was because our government allowed its ideology, and that of its anti-oil and gas friends (also known as protestors) to...
The Senate recently recommended that airport rents be phased out and ownership of Canada’s public airports be transferred to the non-profit corporations that now run them. Frontier’s Mary-Jane Bennett asserts that this is wrongheaded. Airports are publically owned and worth billions of dollars. They should not be transferred without fairly compensating Canadians.
The Winnipeg Airports Authority was kind enough to invite me to participate in their Western Canadian Aviation Forum. While it is a policy conference, most of the presenters are from industry and government, which provides a slightly different perspective than conferences that are primarily populated and presented by academics and scholars. I’ve accumulated a few observations over the past two days that I’d like to throw out for consideration.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynn recently floated the idea of tolling Toronto area highways to pay for the region’s ageing roads and bridges. Opposition parties argue that this is merely a tax grab. In reality, road tolls are the best way to fight traffic congestion, and are a fair way to pay for roads.
STC’s 2012 Annual Report is out, and the numbers are disappointing. The bus service’s annual operating subsidy increased from $8.7 in 2011 to $9.2 million as ridership declined by 2 percent. The 2012 capital grant was $2.3 million compared to $2 million in 2011.
The Saskatchewan Transportation Company is far from a hallmark of efficiency. But credit should be given when due, and the minister responsible for STC, Don McMorris, deserves recognition for making the politically difficult decision to eliminate three spectacularly wasteful STC routes.
Inhibiting cross border integration with the United States and with Mexico makes the economy generally less efficient and raises costs. It’s a trade barrier that is found in many places and it makes things move less efficiently, raises the costs, and it increases environmental load because you are running more empty vehicles around.
Canadians are crossing the border into the United States to fly from American airports because departing from Canada is much more expensive. In fact, Canadians make up over half of the passengers departing from some American airports near the border. This is a result of government policy.
Annually, five million Canadians opt to cross the border and depart from U.S. airports when they fly, because they save on average $428 per person per round-trip. The Canadian government needs to facilitate and encourage competition in the air transportation sector or continue to lose to the U.S.
Canadians are crossing the border into the United States to fly from their airports because departing from Canada is so much more expensive. The tax portion of the Canadian air ticket is ratcheted up with hefty federal fees and taxes. The US sees air transportation as essential to economic growth, while Canada sees it as a source of tax revenue.