Author: Harris Berton

Ford just released a solar powered variation on its C-MAX line of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), with a unique selling point of being able charge off the grid. Skeptical that you can power are car just on solar power? Your skepticism would be warranted, which is why I want

Yesterday, Ontario inked a deal with networking giant Cisco to develop an R&D facility in Ottawa, as well as additional jobs in the GTA. The province is forking over $220 Million in a one -time grant to create 1,700 direct new jobs in the ICT sector. Cisco is investing $4

Some today are criticizing Justin Trudeau for appropriating  Jack Layton’s last words in an election night speech. And indeed, I cringed watching the clip, but not for the reason most NDP supporters did. No, I cringed because Trudeau is simply following the same path of extreme policy banality that allowed

Konrad Yakabuski’s contribution to the Globe’s series on income inequality responds in monstrously broad strokes to the challenge. Looking at specific points in the text, I would not hesitate to say it represents some of the most misleading and damaging conceptions of the issue in Canada. To some extent this is

The Globe and Mail has a new series on income inequality in Canada. As someone who already likes to engage on this topic, I naturally skipped to the solutions section. Having written previously on a guaranteed income as method of addressing barriers to equality (and as a driver of economic

Sustainable prosperity has a new report on the cost of urban sprawl. The article can be found here, the the report here and the site here. Having written previously on sprawl, I was quite pleased to see this. Here I argued low-density urban design is bad for (real) income equality

I have outlined on several occasions why I believe a guaranteed minimum income would have an overwhelmingly positive effect on a range of economic outcomes. For instance I have argued that it could provide a boost to free trade, here as an alternative to collective bargaining and here as one way the

In a weekend Globe and Mail column Doug Saunders makes the argument that while the Canadian residential schools tragedy certainly has many characteristics of genocide, it may be best if we left aside the discussion of that word and instead referred to this policy as a “crime against humanity that some consider genocidal,”

Mortgage broker David Hughes has developed a spreadsheet for his clients considering a suburban home. His goal is to make the costs of commuting clearer to prospective homeowners. In many cases, he believes a failure to factor in this cost will eventually impoverish some of his clients. This is a

Wind and solar electricity is not reliable. The only way to get rid of the power when nobody needs it (e.g. at night) is to pay the States to take it. Wind in particular has real problems; generation increases at night and during the winter, precisely when it’s needed least.

Recently there has been a series of news reports giving pointless publicity to whiny Canadian retailers. Notable examples include Rona, Loblaws, Metro and in the most egregious example of long-term complacency none other than our national treasure (and 1% profit machine) Tim Horton’s. These companies, amid intensifying competition from American

The Huffington Post’s Media critic J. J. McCullough has an utterly childish article on Justin Trudeau’s electoral prospects, specifically based on his new parachute candidate, Chrystia Freeland, a noted journalist and author. He thinks her de facto ensured candidacy for Toronto-Centre is indicative of problem where choosing “to deliver all (Liberal Party) messages of progressive populism through

Margaret Wente’s latest piece on energy is for the most part another boring and predicable rant about how “green energy” is too expensive. But the more interesting point is that “people who know something about engineering, finance, economics and manufacturing will make a lot more difference to the planet than people

The City of Toronto has a new problem: people are conserving water. If that seems like something of a strange problem to you, then you’re right, its not actually a problem. Which is why the Globe’s characterization of water conservation as having a “hidden cost” is perplexing. At least for

The Globe and Mail’s John Ibbitson regularly demonstrates his mastery in turning useful information into meaningless generalizations. In today’s butchering he argues the latest census numbers show that the workplace has barely “changed” over the past half century and our policies have failed. To put it bluntly, he’s dead wrong.  Yes, I

The Washington post’s Wonkblog posted something the other day on the issue of energy efficiency. More specifically: what role does it play in economic growth and greenhouse gas reduction, what can the government do to make this happen, and what are the limits? In Canada, we pay too little for

An association of evolutionary biologists, paleontologist and other experts on evolutionary theory recently held a conference to confirm the poor theoretical basis behind the Paleo diet, which suggests humans haven’t evolved with agricultural practices, and our diets should be based on Paleolithic humans (cave-people). Mainly, this diet suggests cutting back

Like Alastair Parvin in the TED talk below, I’m incredibly excited about the possibilities of 3D printing and decentralized manufacturing. However WikiHouse, which deploys this technology for housing through IKEA-like construction sets, has some glaring issues. Like proponents of vertical farming, this architect has missed important context around his idea. My expertise

Looking at the LCBO strike dispute, it’s clear there is a reason union debates are a no-win proposition.  They ignore that the retail labour market, whether unionized or not, is fundamentally broken. The problem is retail workers (unlike highly-skilled workers) have relatively little bargaining power on an individual level, and using unions to solve the problem