To Eat or Heat? That’s the EU’s Question
– May 16, 2013
For a growing number of Europeans, their continent’s global warming policies have forced them to decide whether to heat their homes or buy food. In short they must choose whether to “Heat or Eat,” which was the title of a talk by a British climate policy expert delivered in Calgary Tuesday.
B.C. Vote Shifted on One Word: Pipelines
– May 15, 2013
The NDP looked way ahead before voters went to the polls in British Columbia. Then it all changed. Why? One word: “Pipelines.” Or more precisely, two: “Kinder Morgan.”
In Defense of Carbon Dioxide
– May 9, 2013
Of all of the world's chemical compounds, none has a worse reputation than carbon dioxide. Thanks to the single-minded demonization of this natural and essential atmospheric gas by advocates of government control of energy production, the conventional wisdom about carbon dioxide is that it is a dangerous pollutant. That's simply not the case. Contrary to what some would have us believe, increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will benefit the increasing population on the planet by increasing agricultural productivity.
Alberta government needs new approach to Keystone XL pipeline lobbying
– May 8, 2013
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is right to label climate activist Dr. James Hansen’s end-of the-world proclamations as nonsense. But Oliver makes a strategic mistake when he actively promotes the hypothesis that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activities are causing dangerous global warming.
Drones Hit New Turf: U.S. Farmland
– May 7, 2013
Farmers are starting to investigate the use of drones for a decidedly nonmilitary purpose: monitoring crops and spraying pesticides. As the spring growing season unfolds, universities already are working with agricultural groups to experiment with different types of unmanned aircraft outfitted with sensors and other technologies to measure and protect crop health.
What We Can Learn About Open Markets From Wine and Wheat
– April 24, 2013
Canadian history is filled with tales of protected industries destined for oblivion because of free trade, foreign threats or lost subsidies. But the worst-case scenario rarely plays out as predicted. Consider two prominent examples from the past quarter-century: the advent of free trade for Ontario’s wine industry and the end of the subsidized freight rates for Western grain farmers. In both cases, disaster was predicted. Yet both sectors adapted and emerged stronger.
Recycling Is Garbage
– April 21, 2013
Believing that there was no more room in landfills, Americans concluded that recycling was their only option. Their intentions were good and their conclusions seemed plausible. Recycling does sometimes makes sense -- for some materials in some places at some times. But the simplest and cheapest option is usually to bury garbage in an environmentally safe landfill. And since there's no shortage of landfill space (the crisis of 1987 was a false alarm), there's no reason to make recycling a legal or moral imperative. Mandatory recycling programs aren't good for posterity.
Carbon Tax...Are Republicans Really That Stupid?
– April 17, 2013
As much as I admire former Secretary of State George Shultz, and because I do, I was totally flummoxed by a recent Wall Street Journal article he co-authored with economist Nobel laureate Gary Becker. Incredulously, the two senior fellows at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution expressed support for a “revenue neutral” tax on carbon.
Let’s Worry About Skills, Not Outsourcing
– April 15, 2013
If you landed back in Canada this week from outer space, or even southern Florida, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d hit a wormhole in time and that it was actually 1990. A debate is raging about whether business should outsource jobs if it makes the business more profitable. Wait, you might think, we settled this long ago. And except when it becomes campaign trail rhetoric in America, we understand that outsourcing is not a bad thing.
Climate Changing For Global Warming Journalists
– April 15, 2013
The overwhelming consensus on global warming among journalists may be cracking. Last week, the world’s most prestigious newsmagazine – The Economist – backed away from its past alarmist position, saying that “If climate scientists were credit-rating agencies, climate sensitivity would be on negative watch.” The Economist now discounts the high-end estimates of warming coming from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as being unlikely if not far-fetched.
Cuba Without the Sunshine
– April 15, 2013
Dawn is breaking in Puerto Argentino, the town its former inhabitants once knew as Port Stanley. At the tiny airport, a gigantic mural commemorates the soldiers from the mainland who lost their lives in the battle for the Malvinas, or the Falklands, as they used to be called.
Smart Messaging Needed to Avoid Pipeline Lobbying Failure
– April 10, 2013
History is replete with tragic examples of those who collaborated with the enemy or sought to appease political correctness and wishful thinking for their own short term benefit. Nowhere is this more evident than in today’s climate change debate. Politicians from across the political spectrum, fossil fuel companies and academics who should know better, not only bow to the climate scare, but actively support it. They even use the unscientific, misnomer-riddled language of their opponents.
Climatologists are no Einsteins, says his Successor
– April 10, 2013
Freeman Dyson is a physicist who has been teaching at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton since Albert Einstein was there. When Einstein died in 1955, there was an opening for the title of "most brilliant physicist on the planet." Dyson has filled it.
America's New Energy Boom Is Bust for Foreign Suppliers
– April 10, 2013
For the better part of a year, Canadian officials and executives watched from afar as a shale-oil boom exploded south of the border. But it wasn't until last fall that the full impact of the U.S. energy boom hit the provincial government here in the heart of Canada's oil patch. Around October, prices for Canadian bitumen—a heavy crude from the country's vast oil sands developments—tanked, walloping the economy of America's largest supplier of foreign oil, its biggest trading partner and one of its closest allies.
The Coming Global Warming Voter Backlash
– April 8, 2013
News is breaking out all over: global warming stopped 20 years ago. A political earthquake has resulted from a feature story in the Economist magazine because the Economist used to be a consistent cheerleader for global warming activism. Doubts about global warming used to be censored by its London editors, one reporter confided to Stephen Hayward.
Ontario Can No Longer Take One for the Team
– April 4, 2013
Thirty-five years ago, Ontario premier Bill Davis explained his province’s oversized responsibility for Canadian harmony in a lecture to a group of American college students. Ontario “is sufficiently significant in its economic and political influence that in terms comparable to the United States it would be like combining the states of New York and California,” he said. “Ontarians contribute to our national program of equalization, are blamed for whatever goes wrong and are generally expected to set high standards of national conduct.”
A Tale of Two Oil Spills
– April 3, 2013
What's the difference between an oil spill from a pipeline and an oil spill from a train? Answer: A lesson in political opportunism. The media have played up Friday's discovery of an oil leak in an old Exxon XOM -0.38%Mobil pipeline near Mayflower, Arkansas. It isn't clear how much oil escaped from the 850-mile Pegasus pipeline, but Exxon says it responded with teams and equipment able to handle as much as 10,000 barrels and that by early Saturday it had stopped the flow and begun cleanup.
Ontario Unfairly Strained by $11-Billion ‘Fiscal Gap’
– April 3, 2013
Outdated policies that cause Ontario to turn over roughly $11 billion more to the federal government each year than it receives are placing an unfair strain on the province, a public policy think tank said in a report released Monday.
The Red-State Path to Prosperity
– April 1, 2013
You can tell a lot about prosperity in America by observing the places people are moving to and where they are packing up and moving from. New Census Bureau data on metropolitan areas indicate that the South and the Sunbelt regions continue to grow, while the Northeast and Midwest continue to shrink.
After Smoke Clears, Taxpayer-Funded Boondoggle Revealed
– April 1, 2013
It was a different world in 2007 when then-B.C. premier Gordon Campbell announced that his would be the first carbon-neutral government in North America. The B.C. premier was a leader among Canadian politicians in introducing measures designed to curb carbon emissions. But like many of Mr. Campbell’s ventures, his attention and focus on the issue eventually waned and climate policy took a back seat to other matters. |
