Posts by Marvin Shaffer

Marvin Shaffer

About Marvin Shaffer

Marvin Shaffer is a consulting economist and adjunct professor in the Public Policy Program at Simon Fraser University. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of British Columbia and received his BA, Honours in Economics, from McGill University. Marvin has managed his own consulting firm specializing in energy, transportation and natural resource economics for over thirty years.

Marvin previously held senior positions with the Government of British Columbia (head of the Crown Corporations Secretariat and Chief Executive Officer of the British Columbia Transportation Financing Authority). As well, he lectured in economics at the University of British Columbia, and at the University of Queensland and University of Tasmania in Australia. Follow Marvin on Twitter

British Columbians will pay the LNG industry’s power bills

Nov 14, 2016
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In his Tyee article BC’s LNG Fraud, Andrew Nikiforuk pointed out that the government’s new eDrive policy—under which BC Hydro will supply electricity to LNG plants at the standard industrial rate, instead of the much higher rate that government had determined was needed for BC Hydro to recover its costs—will result in a subsidy of $34 million… View Article

Investing in youth aging out of foster care

Sep 20, 2016
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It should be enough to know that it is the right thing to do. We should support foster youth in their transition to adulthood—youth for whom we are collectively responsible—in the same way that families support their own children. But we don’t. Over 60% of 20-24 year olds in BC live in their family homes, benefitting not… View Article

How the so-called “Clean Energy Plan” still wreaks havoc on BC Hydro’s rates

Aug 22, 2016
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My wife says I hold on to things too long. Still, when I read BC Hydro’s most recent rate application to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC), I couldn’t help but recall Mark Jaccard’s spirited—if misguided—defence of Premier Gordon Campbell’s Clean Energy Plan in a critique of a paper, Lost in Transmission, that I co-authored in 2007. BC Hydro is seeking approval for… View Article

The BC economy’s unbalanced and inequitable growth

Jul 22, 2016
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Skyrocketing property transfer tax revenues have been in the news the past few days, but the bigger story, well-documented in a recent Huffington Post article, is how dependent the entire BC economy is on the unsustainable and socially damaging housing market. It is instructive to reread the 2012 BC Jobs Plan to see how far… View Article

What’s wrong with a revenue neutral carbon tax?

Jan 22, 2016
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The political appeal of a revenue neutral carbon tax is clear. The tax provides an incentive to reduce fossil fuel use, and the revenue neutrality — reducing income or other taxes in amounts more or less equal to the amount of carbon tax revenues that the government receives — makes the whole exercise rather painless…. View Article

What’s Wrong with Site C

Oct 1, 2015
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In a #SiteC tweet no doubt designed to complement an unabashedly political debate taking place in the legislature this week, the Liberal caucus stated that Site C is the most reviewed project in BC’s history, it will create 10,000 jobs and will provide affordable, reliable clean power. The tweet is partially true. The problem though… View Article

Inconsistency in BC’s GHG Regulations

Jul 22, 2015
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It is no doubt quite naive to think that the BC government (or any government for that matter) would transparently ensure that it imposed the same price on carbon emissions from different industrial sources. Still, carbon is carbon and GHG emissions raise the same concerns regardless of the source. So at least from a naive… View Article

LNG Project Agreement – A Risky Business

Jul 8, 2015
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The Project Development agreement that the provincial government negotiated with Petronas (Pacific Northwest LNG) and now plans to enshrine in legislation has only one purpose. It is an agreement very clearly designed to prevent this and any future British Columbia government from increasing LNG-specific taxes or changing LNG greenhouse gas regulations in ways that would increase… View Article

Economic Development and the Environment

May 9, 2015
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The biggest challenge facing the new NDP government in Alberta, and an NDP government in British Columbia should one be elected in 2017, is finding the right balance between economic development and environmental objectives. There are some who suggest that there is no conflict — there can be jobs and environmental policies effectively prohibiting certain… View Article