A Climate Report that the Hockey Team Will Not Like

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Les Routledge

One of the IPCC climate scientists published a report that the oil sand carbon emissions are a trivial matter.

Andrew Weaver isn’t what you’d call an oilsands apologist.

Weaver, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria, was a lead author with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on global warming, and one of the fiercest critics of the Harper government’s carbon emissions policy — or lack thereof.

That’s what makes Weaver’s latest research publication such startling news. This Sunday, Feb. 19th, Weaver and his doctoral student, Neil Swart, published an analysis in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, an offshoot of Nature, the world’s most prestigious science journal.

In their paper, Swart and Weaver conclude the impact of burning all the economically viable proven reserve of Alberta’s oilsands — all 170 billion barrels — would be negligible. Burning all the proven reserve between 2012 and 2062, they say, would raise global temperatures by just 0.02 C to 0.05 C.

That low rumble that you are hearing is the sound of a lot of heads from Greenpeace, the WWF, et al exploding.

I wonder how long it will be until they expel Weaver from the IPCC Hockey Team?

Postscript on implications of this paper in relation to EU negotiations.   Thank you Andrew for providing this ammunition to our trade negotiators in a critical time.

Posted in Smart Green, Trade | Tagged | Leave a comment

Correlation is not Equal to Causation

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Les Routledge

Here is a decent post on the potential correlation of solar sun spots to long term climate cycles.

The reader is reminded that correlation does not equal causation.

However, a lack of correlation usually suggests no causation.  I will leave it up to readers to look at comparable charts of CO2 versus temperature and arrive at their own conclusions. about where that gas is warming out global temperature.

Posted in Smart Green | Tagged | Leave a comment

BC Lobby to Legalize Pot

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Les Routledge

Some food for thought here.

“I have always had a problem with the idea that the state should criminalize an act which is essentially no more complex than putting a couple of seeds in your back yard, waiting a while and then, when something grows, you put it in your pocket, you chew it or you smoke it,” Mr. Plant said.

This call from former Attorney Generals from BC is interesting because they focus on harm instead of morality.  Is the harm in the consumption of the product or the legal system that makes its production and sale illegal?

“What has happened, in my view, is that increasingly the prohibition of cannabis is not just an ineffective policy,” he said, “but is having the effect of increasing certain harms, as organized crime increasingly relies on the cannabis trade to support its activities, to make huge profits and to fight with each other with guns increasingly in public over their market share.”

….and before the RCMP raids my farm, please note for the record that I do not grow or produce my own beer, wine, spirits, or pot, so please do not bother to raid my premises.

I may be a Libertarian, but I would be an idiot to expose my family to the risk of dealing with the people who trade in those goods today.

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Canada Post Wants to be Competitive

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Les Routledge

It is good news that Canada Post is starting to think about e-commerce deliveries as their future.  I wonder will they even come close to the services offered by the US Postal service today in terms of parcel delivery?

For Canada Post to play in this delivery game, they have to step up their quality and accessibility of service.  To play in the e-delivery game, they have to be ready to accept and produce delivery 7-24 instead of 9 to 5.  Is this state institution really able to operate in this new world?

It is true that their monopoly business is dying quickly as more people elect to have their bills delivered electronically.  I wonder how long it will be before all my suppliers realize that I would much prefer an electronic statement instead of a paper one through the mail? Once MTS, RBC, Rogers, Shaw et al catch onto my preference for electronic bill presentation, the Canada Post System will see a dramatic decline in its monopoly business.

Maybe then, they might learn how to compete for business based on cost, performance and quality of service.

Posted in General | Leave a comment

The Online Snooping Act – They got it wrong

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Roland Renner

Sometimes it is better to retreat!

This is certainly the case for the federal Conservatives with the Online Surveillance Act as it is often called.  Whether it is called the Lawful Access Act or the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, it is way over the line of reasonable balance between civil rights and privacy rights on the one hand and effective policing on the other hand.   Strong judicial oversight is needed in this area and whittling away the scope of warrants goes in the wrong direction.

I won’t try to rewrite the bill here.  The government should retreat in this case.  It is particularly astonishing to listen to some of the justifications for the legislation in light of the eminently sensible things the Conservatives have been saying, in my opinion,  about individual rights with respect to the long gun registry over the past ten years.  Isn’t anyone else making a connection here?

Kudos to the Conservative MP’s who have spoken out against the bill, at least in its current form.  May they be rewarded for speaking truth to power rather than punished by the Party Whip.  Kudos to the opposition for getting this one right.

There are several ways to do this.  The government could admit that it got this one wrong and go back to the drawing board.  More practically, let it be gutted in committee and declare victory anyway.  Finally they could let the Senate do it and humbly take its advice.

Posted in General, HiTech-Telecom | 2 Comments

Tackling “bogus refugees”

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Marco Navarro-Génie

Long overdue are the new changes that Ottawa has introduced in order to deal with chronic breakdowns of the refugee system in Canada.  The breakdowns have been periodic since the Singh decision, Supreme Court 1985.  That decision needlessly struck down as unconstitutional a system that some European countries had identified as worthy of emulating.

The rule-changing decision brought the refugee and law enforcement subdivision within the Immigration Department to its knees.  The backlog of cases, which reached upwards of 75,000 more than a decade ago is still at about 50,000 strong.

The new rules will make it harder for “bogus refugees,” applicants who are really economic migrants coming from “safe countries,”  to entangle themselves in the Canadian legal system for decades while consuming precious services costing billions to Canadian taxpayers.

Roma claimants, for example, though they indeed may be discriminated against in European countries, they are not systematically persecuted by states or state agents, they are in countries with long established constitutional frameworks, they have recourse to human rights tribunals and have access to court systems to which they can appeal for protection and redress.

Being discriminated against or even persecuted by one state agency in a liberal democratic state does not transform one into a refugee.

Kudos to Jason Kenney for having the courage to do what needs doing and what no Canadian government would do in the last 20 years.

The Frontier Centre has recently published two policy  papers on Canada’s refugee system. One documenting the abuse of Canada’s generosity and the other analysing the legal cases to determine options for reform. They can be found here and here.

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pay as You Drive Insurance

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Les Routledge

Why I do not like the overall approach this auto insurance company has employed, it is a start in the migration toward charging for insurance based on people actual risk in driving instead of unrelated factors such as income or credit history.

In my situation, I drive 95% of the time on rural roads with no other traffic.  I object to having to pay huge insurance costs based on the false assumption that I am travelling in risky areas.

In Manitoba, I am particularly annoyed that I am forced to purchase collision insurance on my vehicle when I am more than willing to self-insure that risk.

Posted in General | Comments Off

Alberta’s Good Fortune

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Les Routledge

When I read a news item like this one profiling the riches that Alberta is reaping from the natural, non-renewable resource asset base, I often try to simplify it to making an analogy to my own farm.  I own 200 acres of land that most years will produce a bit of positive income.

If I was to pursue the Alberta strategy, I would start to sell off one square meter of that land every day to increase my apparent income. In reality, what I would be doing through that tactic is converting my fixed asset base into cash and the cash flow is not income at all, but rather is a slow liquidation of my fixed assets. Selling one square meter of land per day would not significantly deplete my asset base in the short term, but if it continues over time, there is an end point when either I run out of land or the remaining land is not attractive to buyers. One way or another, converting fixed assets into cash flow is a time limited business strategy.

When I look at the Alberta government and their practice to treat cash flow coming from non-renewable resource extraction as current income, I get very pessimistic about the future of Alberta. The province is slowly but surely depleting its natural resource base and is not replacing those fixed assets with others that will produce future income. It may take 50 years or it may take 100 years, but eventually the province is going to have sold off all its assets.

What will they do for income at that point?

 

Posted in Energy, General | 3 Comments

Family Reunification

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Steve Lafleur

Recently I wrote an Op-Ed in the National Post where I argued that the family re-unification program has a number of benefits that are difficult to quantify. Critics of the immigration status quo often claim that there is a “net fiscal transfer” from native born Canadians to immigrants, and family re-unification is certainly a large part of that cost. My suggestion was to make up this gap through entrance fees on parents and grandparents of immigrants. Unfortunately the number I arrived at was based on an annual, rather than a lifetime calculation. I apologize to readers for the mistake. It was an unfortunate error because it distracted from my central point. The crux of my argument is that we need to ensure the immigration system is both robust, and self-financing. Family re-unification is an important part of the system. As I mentioned in the article we should look for ways to reduce the cost of family re-unification in addition to levying fees. An example would be lengthening the amount of time for immigrants to receive pensions. The key is to find a solution that is broadly accepted both by native born Canadians, as well as new Canadians.

Posted in General, Poverty | Comments Off

Flood Management on the Souris

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Les Routledge

Why was Manitoba not represented at this meeting on the flood response on the Souris River?

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/international-huddle-on-disaster-prevention-138701829.html

If there are going to be additional flood control structures put in place, there are candidates in Manitoba to consider in SW Manitoba. It is bad planning that Manitoba is not a full and equal participant in these discussions.

Beyond reducing flood risks, Manitoba has an added stake in these discussions due to the presence of irrigated lands along the Assiniboine River. More water control structures could produce more reliable supplies of irrigation water during droughts and reduce the pressures on the Assiniboine ground water aquifer. A lot of potato production and processing jobs are dependent on that water and anything that can be done to increase its availability would be a good thing.

 

Posted in Rural Renaissance, Smart Green, Water | Tagged | Comments Off

More on Salaries of University Presidents

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Marco Navarro-Génie

Yesterday, my colleague Rod Clifton reported here on the differences in salaries of full professors, college presidents, and university presidents and showed the increases in average salaries between 2001 and 2009.  However, there is another way of looking at these changes over the 8 years that may make readers take notice.

In 2001, the average full professor collected $102,896, which increased by 2009 to $146,890, while the average college presidents went from $167,214 to $272,373, and the average university presidents went from $214,563 to $353,617.

In other words, on average, full professors increased their salary by 42.8%; on average, college presidents increased their salary by 62.9%; and, on average, university presidents increased their salary by 64.8%. These are substantial increases!

How much do you think the consumer price index increased between 2001 and 2009?  The answer is 17.82%.

Moreover, in 2001, there were 93 vice-presidents in universities in Ontario, and the number mushroomed to 193 by 2009, which represents a 108 per cent increase over the 8 years.

Canadians, whose money pays these salaries, should ask what they’re getting for it?

 

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Salaries of University Presidents

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Rodney Clifton

Yesterday, Alex Usher published the average salaries of Canadian college and university presidents on his blog—“One thought to start your day”.  Interesting he notes that in 2009, full professors averaged $146,890, college presidents averaged $272,373, and university presidents averaged $353,617.

In other words, college presidents made 1.85 fold and university presidents made 2.41 fold the average salary of full professors.

In 2001 the ratios of the average salaries of professors and presidents were smaller: 1.63 fold for college presidents and 2.09 fold for university presidents.

Would we expect college and university presidents (and other senior administrators) to reward themselves greater increases than they reward faculty members?

Why would university boards allow this to happen especially at times when faculty members are negotiating salaries?

Ultimately, the boards must ensure that everyone is paid a reasonable salary, but the evidence suggests that senior administrators are receiving both unreasonable salaries and unreasonable increases.

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment