Category General
Infrastructure Overbuilds: Past and Present
Thomas Gunton of Simon Fraser University’s Resource and Environmental Planning Program had a piece in yesterday’s Globe and Mail raising the question if the statement of support for the Keystone XL pipeline and the approval of two other pipelines was moving Canada to a situation of surplus capacity when it comes to pipelines? Gunton’s answer […]
Happy New Year….Really!
Well, it’s the start of a New Year and traditionally there should be a sense of optimism to a fresh start. Indeed, at least one forecasting company feels that the global outlook for 2017 is at least stable despite the challenges of 2016 and indeed is expecting an uptick in commodity prices. However, given the […]
The Historical Statistics of Canada Are Back!
If you recall, several posts ago I lamented that the downloadable csv files that used to be part of archived web edition of Historical Statistics of Canada seemed to have disappeared or were not working. I am delighted to say that the files are back.
What Happened to Historical Statistics of Canada?
For whatever reason, Statistics Canada has changed the nature of the access to its web version of Historical Statistics of Canada. Until recently, the electronic version of this classic work of data (with paper editions published in 1965 and 1983) covering Canada from 1867 to the mid 1970s provided the tables of the assorted sections […]
Fact Check: Bias at the CEA?
This was written by Trevor Tombe of the University of Calgary. In a recent Financial Post opinion piece by Phillip Cross (entitled “Discounting Business Knowledge” HERE), he finds the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Economics Association guilty of bias. Allow me to quote him at length: Analysing the 64-page CEA agenda shows a not very […]
A Very Brief History of Demand and Supply
I’m teaching History of Economic Thought again this year and during my progression through the material this term what has struck me is the very long road over time –literally hundreds of years – to understanding markets and value as the simultaneous interaction both supply and demand side factors culminating in the standard diagram of […]
Urban GDP
Statistics Canada has released experimental estimates of gross domestic product for the period 2001 to 2009 for 33 census metropolitan areas. The results of course reinforce what we already know – that Canada’s economic activity is concentrated in its cities and half of our GDP is produced in just six cities – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, […]
The New Mercantilists
In its search for new revenues, Ontario commissioned a government panel to examine how to wring more money out of government assets. In recent days, the panel led by TD Bank CEO Ed Clark has revealed several ideas including selling off Hydro One’s distribution business, restructuring Ontario Power Generation so it provides more revenues and […]
Government Dependency – Recent CMA Building Permit Composition in Canada
Ultimately all economics is local. Ontario municipalities are in the final throes of a municipal election race and in my own community the question of municipal economic development via public sector construction spending has come up. The concern is that much of the economic activity in my community over the last four years has been […]
Why do I hate driverless cars?
I hate driverless cars. That is the fact that needs to be explained. Not justified, but explained. Driverless cars pose no threat to my job, my income, or my wealth. That's not it. The insurance companies, or safety-nazis, might force us to use driverless cars. That would be a threat to my enjoyment of driving. […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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