A recent CBC radio report focused on the woes of an overbooked airline traveller. Missing was an analysis of the airline perspective. Overbooking is not, as consumer advocate Gabor Lukacs claims, a “deceptive practice.” Ralph Nader used the same language in his...
Transportation
Thomas Mulcair is Wrong on Rail Deregulation
Mary-Jane Bennett shows why Thomas Mulcair is wrong to link the July rail disaster at Lac-Mégantic to “years of government deregulation” and why a return to over-regulation of rail in Canada would be a serious mistake.
Rail Relocation From Urban Centres Benefits Both Cities and Railways: It would address safety and land use concerns while providing improved transit and operational efficiencies to rail companies
The rail tragedy at Lac Mégantic, Québec, has opened a debate about the safety of railway in urban areas. Some argue a safety measure would be the relocation of rail lines away from urban areas. Those against this option make economic arguments about community sustainability and the high costs of relocation.
The Case for Opening Portage & Main
Portage & Main is one of Winnipeg’s most prominent intersections, but because it undermines local retail and residential development by dissuading pedestrians. Opening it up to pedestrians is a necessary condition for any successful neighbourhood revitalization scheme.
Featured News
No Evidence of Climate Crisis
In his annual State of the Climate report published on April 14, 2022, Dr. Ole Humlum, Emeritus Professor at the University of Oslo, examined detailed patterns in temperature changes in the atmosphere and oceans together with trends in climate impacts. Many of these...
It Is Time to Move On
I wrote an opinion column immediately following the May 27, 2021 announcement of the “shocking discovery of 215 bodies found in a mass grave at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.” In that column, I correctly stressed the need to wait for real...
Media Release – Canada’s Not-So Friendly Skies: Why Canadian Consumers Pay Sky-High Airfares
Canadian consumers pay sky-high airfares compared to both the U.S. and Europe.
Why You Pay a Fortune for Airline Tickets: Thank Canadian and American Government Protectionism
Liberalized airline competition in Europe have benefited consumers with extremely competitive and inexpensive airlines fares.
A Canadian Autobahn: Creating a World-Class Highway System for the Nation
The United States, Europe and Japan all have motorway systems that reach virtually all of their major urban areas; Canada is the exception.
America’s Fast Track To Wealth
“The real revolution in personal mobility had to wait for the automobile and the jet airliner,” he writes. “These technologies were affordable to every economic class. The wealthiest 20 per cent of Americans drive only a few more miles a year than the poorest 20 per cent. The automobile is the most egalitarian form of mechanized travel ever developed.”
Media Release – Improving Life from Telecommuting
Spurred by advances in information technology, especially the spread of broadband services, telecommuting is already the fastest growing mode of getting from home to work.
The Road Out of Poverty
New Frontier Centre study recommends provinces drop restrictions on automobile ownership for Canadians on income assistance.
Traffic Congestion, Time, Money & Productivity
Congestion Costs: This is why such serious attention is paid to the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI) Annual Mobility Report, which estimates the costs of traffic congestion, principally the value of lost time as well as excess fuel costs. The fundamental premise, long a principle of transportation planning and policy, holds that more time spent traveling costs money, to employers, employees and shippers.
Media Release: Municipalities are Failing to Adequately Disclose Taxi Regulation to the Public
Municipalities responsible for taxi regulation should publish regular (perhaps quarterly or annual) reports of key facts relating to the economic implications of taxi regulation. Licences are not the property of licencees but rather a privilege that is granted by government on behalf of the public. In turn, the public has a right to be informed about the use of these licences.
Who Owns Taxi Licences?
Taxi regulation is almost unique in Canada because it controls the price and quantity supplied to market, rather than just the quality or safety. This approach creates a number of primary and secondary economic effects that are difficult for voters to understand. Because governments should act with the informed consent of their people, the onus should be on municipalities to report the effects of their regulatory activities on taxis and consumers. But most city websites show that such disclosure is abysmal and often absent.