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Articles by Benjamin Dachis
How the federal-Alberta grand bargain can increase oil sands profitability
Box 1: Impact of the Pathways project on profitability The Oil Sands Alliance’s Pathways project[15] is a large-scale carbon capture, transport, and storage project in Alberta’s oil sands. Phase 1 is a C$20-billion system proposed to capture up to 12 MtCO2 per year from oil sands facilities.
‘Free the market to come and find the answer’: Five takeaways from the Conservatives on Climate series so far
Canada has a major economic opportunity in the global low-carbon economy, if it gets its climate and energy policies right. Those policies should be informed by principles like leveraging the ingenuity of markets and free enterprise, limited government, and respect for provincial jurisdiction. The following article is the latest installment of The Hub’s series sponsored by Clean Prosperity exploring the why, what, and how of conservative climate policy. 1.
Joanna Baron: Enough already. It’s time to amend the Canada Health Act
Commentary 27 September 2024 Minister of Health Mark Holland makes an announcement in Ottawa, Aug. 7, 2024. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press. In the lead-up to next month’s British Columbia provincial election, B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad has presented a series of proposed health-care reforms.
Benjamin Dachis: To fix Canada’s climate policy impasse, the feds need to stay in their lane
Commentary 10 September 2024 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault hold a press conference at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 2, 2021. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press. A majority of Canadians think that Canada is broken after years of stagnant incomes, affordability challenges, rising crime, government failures on basic functions like healthcare and immigration, and a deepening cultural malaise.
Rudyard Griffiths: Please, Pierre Poilievre, put the Leaders’ Debates Commission out of its misery
Commentary 10 September 2024 Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole takes part in the federal election English-language Leaders debate in Gatineau, Que., Sept. 9, 2021. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press.
Opinion: We need the right kind of federal intervention in housing Original
Tax changes? Yes. Just don't micro-manage municipal zoning Published Oct 10, 2023 • Last updated 17 minutes ago • 4 minute read Sean Fraser, Canada's federal housing minister. Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press Article content By Benjamin Dachis Although housing is mainly a provincial jurisdiction, the federal government is seized with the pressing political and policy problem of how to increase the housing stock, and sooner rather than later.
Opinion: 3 ways to help reduce house prices - construction targets, lower fees and zoning reform
The cost of housing in Canada has increased dramatically in recent years. In some cities, barriers to getting new homes built are a major reason why. Barriers to constructing new single-detached homes drive a wedge between what it costs to build and the market price. On average between 2011 and 2021, a single-detached home in the Vancouver area cost homebuyers $2 million. But the construction cost of a new home was only about $700,000.
Opinion: In the housing crisis, Doug Ford is forced to play the villain due to municipal inaction
Benjamin Dachis is associate vice-president of public affairs at the C.D. Howe Institute. From 2018 to 2019, he worked in the Ontario Premier’s Office and helped develop the Ontario government’s Housing Supply Action Plan and related legislative and regulatory changes. On Oct. 25, Ontario’s Ford government announced its More Homes Built Faster Act, which would allow the province to rewrite municipal plans, with the aim of allowing more land for development.
Opinion | Province needs to throw its weight behind task force report on improving housing affordability
The government will need to respond to the task force’s high benchmark for change with ambitious reforms. It will not be politically easy. By Benjamin DachisContributor Sat., Feb. 12, 2022timer3 min. read The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force released its final report Feb. 8 after two months of consultation and study. It offers bold reform to boost housing supply.
Opinion | Province needs to throw its weight behind task force report on improving housing affordability
The government will need to respond to the task force’s high benchmark for change with ambitious reforms. It will not be politically easy. By Benjamin DachisContributor Sat., Feb. 12, 2022timer3 min. read The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force released its final report Feb. 8 after two months of consultation and study. It offers bold reform to boost housing supply.
Opinion | The Saturday Debate: Can federal government policy solve the housing affordability problem?
By Ene UnderwoodContributor Benjamin Dachis Jeremy Kronick Sat., Sept. 11, 2021timer7 min.
Buyers Beware: The Cost of Barriers to Building Housing in Canadian Cities
Provincial and municipal governments should cut excessive regulations on new housing development projects and lower the upfront costs on homebuyers to help Canadians grapple with skyrocketing housing prices. The author estimates the gap between the marginal cost of construction for new housing and the market price in major Canadian city areas.
OPINION | OPINION | Move over, Waterloo and Ottawa: Calgary is now out-innovating you | CBC News
You might be surprised to know that Calgary has now taken the lead on that front, as measured by one of the most common ways of gauging innovation — patents. An employee with NSolv, a Calgary-based company that has developed a solvent that can replace steam for in-situ oilsands operations, reducing the use of both water and energy and partially upgrading the recovered oil in the process. (NSolv/Screenshot) Which is the most innovative city in Canada?
How much will all the ‘freebies’ in Wynne’s budget cost? Brace yourself, Ontario
One of the great fiscal miracles of the decade since the 2008 recession was the low interest rate the Ontario government was able to maintain on its debt. Despite yawning deficits for most of the last decade, interest expenses as a share of spending barely budged. And the Wynne government’s provincial budget, tabled Wednesday, promises yet more “free” government-funded services for many, including subsidized prescription drugs and day care.
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