Category Canada – Politics
On systematic biases of Canadian polling firms
Now that the federal election campaign is underway, we're being bombarded with polls. One of the questions that preoccupies me these days is the extent to which there are systematic differences between the results produced by the various polling firms. Here is a graph of the reported estimates for the lead of the Conservatives over […]
Climate change policy and the Conservative-NDP Axis of Dimwits
For reasons I'm going to explain shortly, the Conservatives and the NDP are unlikely allies in the debate on climate change policy. I'll be ripping into the idiocy of their positions pretty hard, so in order to balance what follows, I'm going to make a separate point as a sort of disclaimer. For more than […]
The NDP’s manufacturing obsession
Alternate title: "Dear Jack Layton: The 1970's called – they want their economic policies back." After the last election, I entertained the belief that the NDP was finally on track to come up with sensible, reality-based progressive policies and become a serious contender for power. I am sorry to report that this belief was apparently […]
Just when you think that Conservative tax cuts can’t get any dumber…
… they surpass themselves. Tories to cut diesel, jet fuel excise taxes: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is promising to cut federal excises taxes on diesel and aviation fuel in half over four years. Mr. Harper is pledging to cut the tax by 2 cents — taking it to two cents per litre from the current […]
Destination: deficit
Eighteen months ago, I posted a brief history of the federal budget surplus, based on data up to the end of fiscal year 2005-6 – that is, up until the Conservatives took power. At the time, I said: After ten years of surpluses, we can perhaps breathe a little easier. The debt is less and […]
US voters have a date with destiny. Canadian voters have an appointment with the dentist.
And so it begins. The federal election campaign will be nasty and brutish, but at least it will be short. Economics and the economy are likely to be major themes of this election, so there will be more posts about Canadian politics than usual over the next few weeks.
Election markets are silly
I understand the theory behind the claim that election markets might be more useful tools for predicting election outcomes than opinion polls: Pollsters ask about current opinion ('If an election were held today, …'), and election markets focus attention on what really matters: what actually happens on election day. Poll respondents have essentially no incentive […]
More reactions to the Liberals’ carbon tax proposal
The Liberals have provided more detail on their carbon tax proposal (48-page pdf), and it has received generally positive reviews. The basic strategy is to take the existing gasoline tax, re-interpret it as a tax on carbon, and to extend it to other sources of greenhouse gases. As an exercise in electoral politics, introducing a […]
Reactions to the carbon tax: the good, the bad, and the ugly
The good: In addition to being good policy, there's some reason to be optimistic that the Liberals' carbon tax proposal will be good politics. According to one poll, more than 60% of Canadians approve of the general idea of carbon taxes. And even noted environmentalist David Suzuki endorses the idea. David Suzuki can't always be […]
And if you give food to raccoons, they won’t come back
From the Toronto Star: More money for GM despite layoffs, McGuinty says: Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontario will give General Motors more money for new projects, despite thousands of layoffs announced by the automaker. GM wants the Ontario and federal governments to contribute about $140 million towards a new engine plant in St. Catharines, Ont., […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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