Alberta has obviously done nothing to cause this sudden trade drama with the U.S., and is probably not in much of a position to do anything to resolve it. But that’s not to say that we’re powerless to address Alberta’s competitive position and try to remain as attractive an investment jurisdiction as possible. Between tax […]

Canada’s first new oil refinery in 34 years has already been criticized for its soaring project costs and now the North West Redwater [NWR] Sturgeon Refinery north of Edmonton is being criticized in a damning report out of the University of Calgary. “The NWR Sturgeon Refinery seemed like a good idea on paper,” said a […]

Trevor Tombe is an associate professor of economics at the University of Calgary, and aa research fellow at the School of Public Policy. These days, news flows through a firehose. Take a moment to reflect on the past month alone. U.S. President Donald Trump levied new tariffs on steel and aluminum, and Canada, Mexico, Japan, the […]

Andrei Sulzenko is a former Canadian trade negotiator and is currently an executive fellow at the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary. With last Thursday’s announcement by the Trump administration that it was following through with clearly illegitimate steel and aluminum tariffs, the gloves are off on trade, and the world is venturing into […]

CALGARY—A 2015 property crime spike in Alberta’s largest city was likely linked to the start of the opioid crisis and recession in the oilpatch, a new study found. The average number of property crimes — robberies, break-and-enters and vehicle thefts — has increased by 50 per cent since 2015, found the study, released by the […]

  On the weekend, the United Conservative Party in Alberta voted to include a return to the so-called flat tax in its policy platform. Taxes, of course, garner a lot of interest in Alberta, and there has been much discussion about this proposal. The Alberta “flat tax” dates back to the 2001 tax year when […]