Category Archives: Costs, Benefits and Risks

(September 4, 2002) Now that Canada seems certain to commit to the Kyoto treaty by the end of the year, the choice before Canadians is stark. We can cut greenhouse gases in ways that gut the economy and impoverish Canadians – such reforms could cost 450,000 jobs, according to estimates from business lobby groups – or we can reduce gases by modernizing and liberalizing the economy. Continue reading →

(August 31, 2002) Someone once asked Jean Chrétien who his favourite hockey player was. Jacques Plante, he replied: the Hall of Fame goaltender who played professionally until well into his 40s. Why Plante- other than longevity? “Because he never made the first move.” Continue reading →

(June 24, 2002) In the last half of the 19th century, conventional wisdom in North America held that the climate in the Praries – the vast lands that compromise much of the continent – was changing. In the United States and Canada, tens of governments, thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of individuals spent fortunes in line with this wisdom – the only time in human history that great sums were spent in anticipation of climate change. Continue reading →