Policy Risk and Private Investment in Ontario’s Wind Power Sector

Even though governments may adopt favourable regulatory policies for renewable power generation, their ability to encourage private sector investment depends also on the presence of regulatory governance institutions that provide credible long-term commitments to potential investors. In the case of Ontario we contend that, despite large market potential and comparatively strong regulatory incentive policies, weak regulatory governance is one factor that has accounted for the challenges in attracting and implementing large scale private investment in power generation at a reasonable cost. We find empirical support for our arguments in a unique survey of 63 wind power firms that assessed private sector opinions about the investment environment for renewable energy in Ontario. Compared to a range of factors, firms rated the stability of regulatory policy among the weakest aspects of Ontario?s business environment. However, policy stability ranked among the most important factors in firms? assessments of the attractiveness of alternative jurisdictions in their location decisions. Subsequent interviews revealed that firms have responded to this risk in Ontario by explicitly pricing it into wind project financial models – implying higher wind power prices for ratepayers – and by directing investment funds to other jurisdictions. We argue that policy stability in Ontario may be improved by devolving greater decision-making authority to regulatory agencies in the energy sector and by strengthening their institutional independence.

Marie-Nelly Fouligny et Marie Roig Miranda, eds. Les Proverbes dans l’Europe des XVIe et XVIIe siècles: réalités et représentations. Actes du colloque international organisé à Nancy (17, 18, 19 novembre 2011). (Nancy 2013) – (Charles-Louis Morand Métivier)

Les Proverbes dans l’Europe des XVIe et XVIIe siècles: réalités et représentations. Actes du colloque international organisé à Nancy (17, 18, 19 novembre 2011). Eds. Marie-Nelly Fouligny et Marie Roig Miranda. Nancy : Groupe “XVIe et XVIIe siècles en Europe”, 2013. Pp. 579

Apprendre des massacres: emotions et nation dans la littérature du Moyen-âge et de la Renaissance

This dissertation examines the literary representations of massacres from the late fourteenth to the sixteenth century as challenging accepted notions of nationhood and kingship, recreating the nation as an emotional community that transcends traditional ideas of class, rank or wealth. The diachronic approach of this dissertation covers texts written over a period of two hundred years that were written in reaction to three particular massacres: the Battle of Nicopolis (September 25th, 1396), the Battle of Agincourt (October 25th, 1415), and the events of the First French War of Religion (1561-1563). The main theoretical framework of this dissertation is the idea of emotional communities developed by Barbara Rosenwein. She demonstrates that numerous emotional communities coexisted during the same period, some dominating political and social discourses, but she does not focus on the nation as an emotional community. I use the idea of emotional communities to study how massacres created the possibility for an emotional approach to the study of the nation as an assemblage of communities that redefines itself after a major defeat. I study these communities not only as isolated groups, but also as integrated parts of the nation. The emotional charge following the massacres that created these communities puts them at the center of the new image of France developed in my works, which redefines the French nation as a community of communities and the king as its emotional leader. Through close readings of Philippe de Mézieres’s Epitre lamentable et consolatoire (1397), Christine de Pizan’s Epitre de la prison de vie humaine (1418), Alain Chartier’s Livre des quatre dames (1418), the anonymous Tragédie du sac de Cabrières (1545), and Pierre de Ronsard’s Discours (1562-1565), I demonstrate how the early modern nation built itself following moments of crisis, with emotions as the medium of its creation, and with the king as the emotional cement between its different components

“Sagement se chastie qui par autruit se chastie”: Le proverbe comme facilitateur de l’émotion dans Une epistre lamentable et consolatoire de Philippe de Mézières

Dans L’Épistre lamentable et consolatoire, Philippe de Mézières utilise les proverbes afin de faire passer au plus grand nombre le message de nécessité de changement de la chevalerie suite au désastre de Nicopolis (1396). Puisque ceuxci ont une dimension populaire connue et acceptée par tous, les préceptes de l’auteur apparaissent ainsi de façon plus tangibles et compréhensible, sous la forme d’une rhytmique prover-biale qui « démocratise » la nécessité d’une nouvelle chevalerie

La Construction de la Masculinité dans la Tragédie du Sac de Cabrières: Le Cas d’Opède

This article examines how, in the Protestant play “La Tragédie du sac de Cabrières” (16th century), the personality of the leader of the Catholic forces at the siege of Cabrières, d’Opède, is constructed through a set of oppositions between his duties as a leader and his dilemmas as a man. With an analysis of the transformation of the character from a man full of doubts to a “monster” dedicated to the extermination of the Waldensians, the author examines how gender and emotions are intertwined in the (re)creation of a masculine personality that sets aside any non-useful ideas in order to become a man completely devoted to his cause

Marie-Nelly Fouligny et Marie Roig Miranda, eds. Les Proverbes dans l’Europe des XVIe et XVIIe siècles: réalités et représentations. Actes du colloque international organisé à Nancy (17, 18, 19 novembre 2011). (Nancy 2013) – (Charles-Louis Morand Métivier)

Les Proverbes dans l’Europe des XVIe et XVIIe siècles: réalités et représentations. Actes du colloque international organisé à Nancy (17, 18, 19 novembre 2011). Eds. Marie-Nelly Fouligny et Marie Roig Miranda. Nancy : Groupe “XVIe et XVIIe siècles en Europe”, 2013. Pp. 579

“Sagement se chastie qui par autruit se chastie”: Le proverbe comme facilitateur de l’émotion dans Une epistre lamentable et consolatoire de Philippe de Mézières

Dans L’Épistre lamentable et consolatoire, Philippe de Mézières utilise les proverbes afin de faire passer au plus grand nombre le message de nécessité de changement de la chevalerie suite au désastre de Nicopolis (1396). Puisque ceuxci ont une dimension populaire connue et acceptée par tous, les préceptes de l’auteur apparaissent ainsi de façon plus tangibles et compréhensible, sous la forme d’une rhytmique prover-biale qui « démocratise » la nécessité d’une nouvelle chevalerie

Glorifier le royaume et le souverain en temps de crise : émotions et royauté chez Christine de Pizan, les chroniqueurs de Charles VI, et Pierre de Ronsard

This article proposes to explore crises from seemingly different backgrounds and periods (the madness of Charles VI of France and the French Wars of Religion) to demonstrate how these elements were used by authors in order to create emotional narratives in support of the failing monarchy. In the two situations, the French community was constructed as an entity which duty was to support the king. However, the authors use different methods to transmit their messages. While Christine de Pizan and the chroniclers advocate for the building of an integrating, all encompassing community around the love of and for the king, Ronsard’s France is tasked at differentiating the Catholics and the Protestants, in an effort to construct France also as a monarchy loving community, of which the protestants are presented as the enemies.This article proposes to explore crises from seemingly different backgrounds and periods (the madness of Charles VI of France and the French Wars of Religion) to demonstrate how these elements were used by authors in order to create emotional narratives in support of the failing monarchy. In the two situations, the French community was constructed as an entity which duty was to support the king. However, the authors use different methods to transmit their messages. While Christine de Pizan and the chroniclers advocate for the building of an integrating, all encompassing community around the love of and for the king, Ronsard’s France is tasked at differentiating the Catholics and the Protestants, in an effort to construct France also as a monarchy loving community, of which the protestants are presented as the enemies