91��ɫ Professors comment on Ontario's hydro rate increases and increased profits for power authorities

fmaquito — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Conservative leader Tim Hudak slammed the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) as a wasteful entity, wrote the Ottawa Citizen Sept. 24 in a :

The Conservative leader said that, while the agency has expanded, it has yet to fulfil its central mandate by producing a long-term energy plan.

But one energy expert says the OPA doesn’t deserve all the blame. 91��ɫ Professor Mark Winfield, of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, says the Liberal government hasn’t enabled the OPA to fulfil its mandate.

“There’s no direction from the government to the OPA,” Winfield said. “There’s no overall vision or strategy about where we’re going.”

The Toronto Sun quoted Professor in its :

The Ontario Energy Board thinks you’re not paying enough for hydro so it’s yanking another $60 out of your wallet.

Ontario hydro ratepayers — already hammered by the HST, time-of-use pricing and rate hikes — will pay an added $240 million a year, the Ontario NDP says.

Officials at the provincial crown agency — whose salaries are paid for through hydro bills — decided earlier this year that utilities should be able to boost their rate of return to 9.85% from 8.39%.

. . .

Gordon Roberts, a professor at the Schulich School of Business at 91��ɫ, who made a submission to the OEB on behalf of , recommended a lower rate. “It’s generous,” Roberts said. “Clearly, if the answer comes out on the generous side (for utilities), it’s less fair for the ratepayers.”

Roberts also spoke about the hydro profits issue on CBC Radio and CBC-TV, Sept. 23.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post 91��ɫ Professors comment on Ontario's hydro rate increases and increased profits for power authorities appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91��ɫ researchers receive $10 million in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

fmaquito — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at 91��ɫ have been awarded over $10 million from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The grants, part of $190.5 million in funding and awards invested across the country, will support over 220 innovative 91��ɫ research projects to improve Canadians’ quality of life while addressing important socio-cultural and economic issues.

“SSHRC’s investment in humanities and social sciences research allows our scholars to substantially contribute to Canada’s knowledge base, to culture and to quality of life,” said Stan Shapson (right), 91��ɫ’s vice-president research & innovation. “This basic research helps us to better understand the world while responding to the pressing social issues of our time.”

Forty-seven 91��ɫ faculty members received $4.4 million to fund their research projects through ’s Standard Research Grants program. 91��ɫ also received over $560,000 to support 17 projects funded through the:

Research Development Initiatives competition
Image, Text, Sound and Technology competition
International Opportunities Fund
Aid to Research Workshop competition

Graduate students and doctoral fellows also benefited from the announcements: 148 91��ɫ master’s and doctoral students have won over $5 million in scholarships and fellowships. More than 2,000 graduate and postdoctoral projects across Canada received funding.

Reflecting knowledge mobilization’s status as a core SSHRC priority, the competition also included special calls for Public Outreach Grants that support existing and ongoing projects that mobilize research results to a range of audiences beyond academia. Nine 91��ɫ projects were funded, securing over $1 million for the University.

In this category, 91��ɫ researchers enjoyed a 67 per cent success rate; in comparison, 2009 SSHRC applicants averaged a success rate of 33 per cent across all categories.

Through the Public Outreach Grants, 91��ɫ researchers will:

Make literary research available to a broader community of researchers, students, teachers and educators, and policy makers in a sustainable way through the (ORION).
Empower young mothers by exploring what they need to achieve economic, social, familial and personal wellness and prosperity.
Share research conducted with marginalized youth with educators, community organizations and other stakeholders to help them understand the alienation and disengagement new migrants and ethno-racial minority youth experience as their families move from Toronto’s inner city and inner-suburban neighbourhoods to the outer suburbs, such as Peel, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Ajax and Pickering.
Enhance microcredit program success for economic development through social performance ratings by making the information accessible and designing program evaluation instruments.
Share new scholarship on the immigration of African American refugees from slavery to Canada with educators, community groups, libraries and government agencies, among others.
Mobilize knowledge on the political economy of women’s rights—specifically, connections among macroeconomic policy, public policies that impact the paid and unpaid work of women, and women’s access to human rights—to local human rights organizations that focus on women.
Provide experts in performance making, theatre design and green technology with a three-day opportunity to share practices, approaches and technological innovations.
Mobilize the Aboriginal peoples of Canada’s disparate experiences with and knowledge of conservation by bringing together Aboriginal community representatives, academics, policy-makers, and conservation practitioners.
Inform climate change policy and practice by making climate change research and evidence available to policy partners in four GTA municipalities (, , and ), and the .

“These awards also build upon 91��ɫ’s amazing success earlier this year in SSHRC’s large-scale collaborative competitions,” said Shapson. “91��ɫ received $6 million through SSHRC’s Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI) and Community-University Research Alliances (CURA) programs. Professors Roger Keil, Pat Armstrong and Carla Lipsig-Mumme are already collaborating with their international research teams to study global suburbanisms, long-term residential healthcare, and work in a warming world.”

“Their work, coupled with the projects funded through this announcement, addresses key social issues facing Canadian society while demonstrating our leadership in creating and sharing new knowledge across the social sciences and humanities.”

“Our government continues to invest in world-class research to improve Canadians’ quality of life and increase the supply of highly qualified graduates that Canada needs to be successful,” said the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry. “The social sciences and humanities show us how to harness and interpret innovation from a human perspective, which translates into benefits for society.”

has posted a complete list of funded projects on their website.

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

The post 91��ɫ researchers receive $10 million in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada appeared first on Research & Innovation.

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91��ɫ Professors comment on Ontario's hydro rate increases and increased profits for power authorities

91��ɫ researchers receive $10 million in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada