Ford should ditch their Off-grid Solar Vehicle Concept
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…
Harris Berton
Does Ontario’s Cisco Deal Create Jobs? (Probably)
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…
Fear is better than hope. Despair is better than optimism.
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…
Technology and Trade (alone) will not solve inequality
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…
Maybe we should discourage minimum wage work
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.…
Urban Dwellers are the Real Cause of Sprawl
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…
Unlocking the benefits of contract work and unpaid internships
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…
In Canada, we must acknowledge our own holocaust
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…
Your house is not an investment (the land is)
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…
Waiting for renewable energy is not like waiting for the next iPhone
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…
Canadians should celebrate the "retail bloodbath"
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…
When are you too intelligent for politics?
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…
The Importance of "Fashionable Degrees in Sustainability"
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…
What on earth does "fiscally conservative" mean?
Based on current political discourse in Canada, the best I can come up with is “Not the NDP.” Liberals, along with other purported moderates, love the political ideology of “socially…
Your water bill is a subsidy for the wealthy
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…
The Canadian workplace has changed for the better
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…
We Need High Energy Prices, but Low Energy Costs
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…
Eating is about more than nutrition
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…
Why 3D-Printed Housing is not a good idea
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…
LCBO strike: Unions are obsolete, let’s "replace" them
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…