Op-Eds
Canada is about to embark on one of the largest infrastructure investment programs in recent history, and Ottawa is poised to set up the Canada Infrastructure Bank to attract institutional investment. An infrastructure bank is a great start, but governments at all levels have more to do to enable private investment in the program.
While Canadian governments worry about their limited ability to rack up debt to finance infrastructure investment, major Canadian institutional investors are investing in such programs abroad. They invest abroad because Canadian governments have opened few opportunities for institutional infrastructure investment here.
It’s important to remember the benefits of using private investment in place…
Read the latest opinion piece from Blake Shaffer in Maclean's.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced on Friday that she will not allow the City of Toronto to proceed with road tolls. I’ll leave the politics of this decision to others, but the economic consequences of the decision will be more congestion and myriad problems for cities reliant on unsustainable provincial grants.
How did we get here? About a decade ago, the province granted the City of Toronto – and only Toronto – the power to levy tolls on roads it operates, among other new tax powers. There was a catch, however: The province retained the final say by having to pass a regulation allowing such a road toll. In December, Toronto City Council voted in favour of asking the province to allow Toronto to place…
Putting a toll on Toronto’s expressways may be the biggest policy idea of the year – perhaps the decade – in Toronto. If the city approves the plan and gets the design of the toll right, it will mean lower property taxes and reduced traffic congestion.
Mayor John Tory announced on Thursday he will support the introduction of tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, the two major expressways into the downtown core. It is now up to City Council to decide whether to support him. Here is why they should.
The toll will not be double taxation. Far from it. Gas taxes, vehicle licences and other revenues from drivers have covered less than 70 per cent of roadway expenses across Canada since 2008…
News broke last week that the federal government is considering privatizing its major airports to raise money for infrastructure projects. That would be good news for Canadians, and in more ways than one. Private airports, which are becoming commonplace around the world, tend to be less costly and more innovative, often looking like shopping malls. The federal government should follow international practice and sell its major airports.
Many Canadians know first-hand that air travel in Canada is expensive. According to the World Economic Forum, Canada has the ninth-highest ticket taxes and airport charges in the world. We rank between the tourism hotspots of Sri Lanka and Ghana.
As a report last week in the Toronto Star…
