Industry, environmental groups try to speed up progress on Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement
Progress is slow on plans to protect Canada’s vast boreal forest, but it’s happening, says the main industry group involved in conservation efforts, and nobody wants to resume the war in the woods. “Everybody acknowledges that the [Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement] is a complex deal or initiative, wider in scope than any other agreement […]
Rethinking natural resources, building Canadian prosperity for the long term
Today, the laissez-faire Conservative approach to resource exploitation is facing renewed challenges. After seven years of delaying and misdirection, the Conservatives are simply out of step when it comes to sustainable resource development—with Canadians, and with our closest allies. To hear Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver tell it, over the last few years the […]
Mulcair owes Canadians consistency on Keystone XL pipeline
Tom Mulcair is just the latest resident of Stornoway to engage in a rite of passage that leads south. But this time an opposition leader lands in Washington to find the elephant in the room is too massive to dance around. The fate of the Keystone XL pipeline is perhaps the most contentious bilateral […]
Provinces need to protect against boom and bust cycle
Resource-heavy provinces like Alberta need to “rethink” their budgets so their poverty or prosperity aren’t at the mercy of how much their commodities are fetching at market, say economic experts. “One thing that is obvious from Canadian economic history is that staples-driven booms can end as quickly and dramatically as they begin,” writes the […]
Feds must get more involved in Canada’s natural resources to benefit country, say critics
Canada needs to have a national conversation about how to develop its natural resources, divvy up the riches and deal with climate change, says Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives executive director Bruce Campbell. “First and foremost there has to be a national conversation. I think the federal government has to take the leadership [role],” […]
Dutch disease debate ‘generating more heat than light,’ says former Environment Canada deputy minister
Economist and former Environment Canada deputy minister Paul Boothe says he doesn’t put much stock in claims that Canada’s manufacturing sector is a victim of so-called Dutch disease, but admits that the resource-rich Canadian dollar has made it harder for manufacturers to sell their products abroad. “Resource booms do have exchange rate impacts and […]
Canada’s pipeline options numerous: NRCan briefing notes
Despite the frenzied push by federal and provincial officials to sell the U.S. government on the economic benefits of approving the Keystone XL pipeline, there are multiple projects on the horizon that would send more Alberta crude to tidewater where it can command a higher price. Canada’s oil industry has “a number of pipeline […]
B.C. Liberal document has similarities to federal Conservative strategy
While Christy Clark’s British Columbia Liberal government is getting slammed for its ethnic outreach strategy, it is not really all that different from what the federal Conservatives were doing in the spring of 2011, just months before the federal election. So what’s all the fuss about? It’s a combination of a bone-headed term, a […]
It’s time to put knowledge to work in Canada
Post-secondary institutions are now working to exploit more effectively the knowledge they develop, and in which governments invest, to the benefit of the Canadian economy. In the past, such efforts primarily occurred through the licensing of inventions developed in universities and colleges. This approach has proven to be disappointing. In Canada, licensing produces annually some […]
