From Cork to Toronto

Cheri DiNovo, NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, has been spearheading an increase in the Ontario minimum wage to $10 an hour . The current wage is due to go from $7.75 to $8.00, an increase of 3.2%, on February 1st subject to certain exclusions . I am a bit wary of the round number of $10 since like the publishing of public service salaries over $100,000 it tends to be worth less over time and might take a while to edge up again - instead it should be linked at least to the Consumer Price Index. I also note that in the U.S. there are moves to increase the Federal minimum, which is popular in many states since those states already exceed both the existing and in some cases the new federal floor, although it has run into trouble in the Senate . In Ireland the rate is C$12.68 with some exclusions. The Liberal government, who just raised MPPs salary's by $22,000 annually (2,750 hours at minimum rates just for the increase!) opposes this and bloggers duly went to bat, with Jason Chern...

As Environment Minister Baird muses aloud about how those pesky Liberals like Stephane Dion subsidised the tarsands and he can't figure out why, the U.S. House of Representatives votes 264-163, including 36 Republicans voting with the majority Democrats, to repeal US$14bn of oil subsidies and other financial benefits . (NYT, rego required) Garth Turner fires back at Baird, pointing out some interesting issues: Dion was not involved in the programme Baird mentioned the programme began when oil was at $21/bbl, not $50 as it has been recently tarsands get more financial benefits than conventional oil and gas - in fact the same incentives as renewables Turner goes on : what we don’t need is an environment minister who has started his mandate lying about who did what, when, instead of what he’s going to do, now. Indeed. However, it would have been good to see the Martin government think aloud about these subsidies when they had the chance. From when Martin took power in December 2003...

Harper's trial balloon for equalisation is peeking out and it looks like $1.5bn more for Quebec and $600 million less for Saskatchewan. This is achieved by only counting 50% of resource revenues. Now SK might complain that other provinces benefited more or less in the past but the 50% is ridiculous. Resource revenue should be counted the same as everything else. Transitional equalisation payments rather than immediate clawback should be a function of equalisation rather than of how provincial revenues are counted. The effect is the same but the sense of fiddling with the system is removed. This is how structural funds work in the European Union. Ireland still managed to draw down quite a bit after we approached 100% of average EU GDP by use of regionalisation due to disproportionate economic growth in certain areas like the east coast. Like the income trust tax, the 100% exemption for Saskatchewan was a bad promise but it's a pity the Tories couldn't be similarly d...

Over the next year the United States Fish and Wildlife Service will be considering a proposal to designated polar bears as endangered . At first glance this seems a no-brainer, given that polar bears have been suffering a multi-whammy: a decline in their sea ice breeding areas, a decline in their foodstocks, the release of manmade toxins normally stored in fat due to their lower food intake and their objectification by Coca-Cola every Christmas. The Nunavut territorial government doesn't think this is a good idea , according to the CBC. My first thought that this is a Inuit traditional rights issue, like the hunters in B.C. allowed to use hunting rifles at night because night hunting is a tradition of First Nations. But the USFWS doesn't have jurisdiction over Canada anyway. No, this is about US fatcats coming north for "sport" hunting - $20,000 for a guarantee to shoot a polar bear - for extra you can shoot an elk and have the meat shipped to your home. Acco...

The FDA has approved cloned meat for unlabelled sale to the public . US food can now, it seems, be any combo from genetically modified, cloned, growth promoted and antibiotic-laden. Sadly with NAFTA and the flow of livestock across the border some of that food will probably end up on Canadian tables. So it's okay to eat this stuff but not clone stem cells? All of a sudden Soylent Green is looking appetising.

To most Europeans coming from the system of VAT where tax is shown on the "sticker price" to North America where you have to do mental arithmetic to know how much you would pay at the cash register is a bit frustrating. Buying electronics is swiftly making that transition even more annoying. The latest scam is the "mail-in rebate". You open a store flyer and see that a $159 camera is marked down to $70. Good news you think, with tax that's about $80. Then you notice that only $9 of that is "instant savings" and the rest is a mail-in rebate. Well, that's not so bad - you just pay the $150 and tax on the $70 price and you get $80 back in the post. Well, no - in Ontario tax is 14% of the price you paid at the till after store discount. Your "$159 down to $70 camera" means you pay $150+$21 - $171. Then you have to put your receipt in an envelope and send it somewhere. But your rebate may not be what you were promised, since the fine ...

I notice Slovenia will join the Euro zone on 1 January. Last time I went to Slovenia I needed several currencies to get from Cork to Portoroz via Stansted, Treviso and Trieste. Now I would just need two with the UK holding out. Why oh why do they pick such stupid exchange rates though - 239.640 tolars to the Euro. Would rounding it to 240 really make that much difference? When Ireland joined it was 0.787564 punts/Euro - 1.55% short of a nice round 0.8 but the Slovenia gap is an order of magnitude less at 0.15%. The increase in hassle and resentment caused by a ratio only a Brussels econocrat could love is something you'd think they'd have learned to avoid from the last conversions.

In the Blog O'Sphere, blankpaige and Omaniblog have posted on the plan to sell part of the Government stake in Aer Lingus. The Irish Independent (rego req.) also published a recent sceptical article (a letter to the editor identifies it as by Martina Devlin). Damien Kiberd takes a different view in the Sunday Times which I share. To wrap Aer Lingus in the national flag and pretend the aviation market will be thwarted is to guarantee its end. The example of bankrupted airlines like Sabena and Swissair, the continuing basket-case status of Olympic and Alitalia and the dubious policies at South African should be loud warnings to those like me who actually wish to see Aer Lingus succeed while remaining an Irish airline. What are the factors which have hindered Aer Lingus to date? 1. Government regulation means that investment in Aer Lingus will only occur when the national finances permit it. Private airlines like Ryanair can raise finance whenever they have a commercial need ...

REGCO, the regional airline championed by Robert Deluce, is one large step closer to reality with the announcement of 10 firm orders for Bombardier Q400 70 seat turboprop aircraft . The airline's plan is still to operate from Toronto City Centre , where at present only private flights operate with the exception of a single Air Canada route to Ottawa operated by 37 seat Bombardier Q100s, which are approximately 150 kilometres per hour slower than the Q400. This order, valued at $500m but which with the usual discounting will net to substantially less, is good news for local workers who build the Q400 and who pleaded with City Council not to reverse the decision to build the bridge, a decision which David Miller would cost $2 but has so far cost the Feds $35m. Whether REGCO will be a success is anyone's guess. There is scope for traffic to Ottawa for bureaucrats and business types but beyond that it's hard to say. However I do admire that he is bothering to try, given the...