The PC Government in Ontario has introduced Bill 87 which would eliminate the rate-based borrowing to subsidize electricity prices and replace it with Government borrowing. Last week’s Provincial Budget estimates that the required borrowing to subsidize electricity prices for 2018/19 was $2.8 billion. It is likely to exceed $3 billion
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Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Chantal Hebert, Andrew Coyne and Paul Wells all weigh in on yesterday’s revelations by Jody Wilson-Raybould about the Trudeau PMO’s protection racket on behalf of SNC-Lavalin. And Andrew Nikiforuk examines the track record of corruption both from SNC-Lavalin in particular, and within
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Howard Mann discusses the World Bank’s new model for public-private partnerships which deliberately avoids placing any real risk with the profiteers who participate only to make money off of necessary infrastructure. – The New York Times takes an in-depth look at the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the U.S. midterms show the political risks of putting corporations over people – and how Saskatchewan citizens should take a hint as to who deserves to be voted out of office. For further reading…– Dana Milbank discussed how the Republicans’ tax giveaway to the rich was motivated
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Simon Wren-Lewis discusses how media negligence allowed austerian economics to be treated as credible long after any pretense of academic merit has been debunked. – Kevin Milligan and Tammy Schirle examine the relationship between income and life expectancy in Canada – featuring
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ontario Electricity Sector VI – Meet the new boss…
The provincial election of June ended 15 years of Liberal electricity policy in Ontario. Anger over high electricity prices continued to be an election issue, contributing to the Liberals loss of power and official party status (reduced from 55 to 7 seats). The PCs have formed Government with 76 seats,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jonathan Amos and Victoria Gill report on Antarctica’s alarming rate of melting – with three trillion tons of ice lost in the past 25 years. Peter Erickson reminds us that the avoidable greenhouse gas emissions from subsidized oil sands development will only
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Scott Gilmore discusses how Canada is actually backsliding in some crucial development goals. And Colin Gordon writes about the inequality growing on multiple fronts around the globe. – Kathy Tomlinson uncovers a Vancouver real estate market rigged to benefit developers and speculators.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Kady O’Malley writes that after years of delays on their promise to reassess Bill C-51, civil rights are just one more area where the Libs’ proclamations about “open government” have given way to a closed-door process where only their plans are being given
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – Dylan Walsh interviews Jeffrey Pfeffer about his book Dying for a Paycheck, and the ways in which employer demands make people worse off: Has this connection always been there, or has there been an evolution in workplace culture that got us to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jim Stanford discusses what can be done to make international terms of trade serve the public, rather than merely offering multinational corporations control over all participants: Acknowledging that globalisation produces losers as well as winners, allows us to imagine policies to moderate the
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom and Andre Picard took the time to wonder whether the Libs actually planned to deliver on pharmacare before Bill Morneau confirmed otherwise. – Joe Fries examines the history of P3s in British Columbia. And Alex MacPherson breaks the news that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Nick Falvo highlights some of the most important proposals in the CCPA’s alternative federal budget (parentheticals omitted): 3. Introduce a national pharmacare program. This proposal would help address the fact that many Canadians simply cannot access prescription medication; it would also result
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Nathan Akehurst writes that the Carillion collapse was just the tip of the iceberg in the corporatization and destruction of the UK’s public services. And Neil Macdonald points out that the Trudeau Libs are pitching privatized infrastructure as easy money for investors
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Julian Cribb reports on new research as to mass exposure to chemicals and pollutants: Almost every human being is now contaminated in a worldwide flood of industrial chemicals and pollutants – most of which have never been tested for safety – a
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This and that for your Sunday reading. – Brent Patterson discusses how the Libs are putting the hands of their already-dubious “infrastructure bank” in the hands of people with a track record of turning public services into private cash cows. – David Suzuki takes note of another U.S. government climate
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ontario’s Electricity Sector IV: Pre-Election Update
My first, second and third posts on the Ontario electricity sector described how policy and administrative decisions by different Liberal Governments gave rise to excess electricity generation with an inflated cost structure, leading to higher electricity prices. In anticipation of June 2018 elections, the Liberal Government recently implemented a costly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Hugh Mackenzie writes that the biggest problem with the Libs’ closing tax loopholes for private corporations was the failure to push for far more tax fairness: Any tax reform that isn’t just a give away creates winners and losers. If the goal is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Greg Jericho writes about Australia’s increasing income stratification and wealth inequality. Matt Bruenig examines what sets the Nordic countries apart from the rest of the world – including high unionization levels and substantial public ownership of industry along with their well-funded social programs.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on what the Wall government means when it talks about entering into “partnerships” with the corporate sector – and why Saskatchewan’s citizens shouldn’t stand to be cut out of the Crown assets now owned for public benefit. For further reading…– Others have also noted the “partnership” phrasing used by
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