Browse "Public Utility"

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

For statistical and administrative purposes, the federal government has divided the Canadian airport system into 5 major classes of airports: international, national, regional, local commercial and local.

Electric utilities are private or government organizations involved in the production, transmission, distribution, marketing and sale to consumers of electric power. Canadian electric utilities account for approximately 92% of the total production of electrical energy in Canada.

Hydro-Québec, a provincially owned corporation based in Montréal, is Canada's largest electric utility and, judged by assets ($30.6 billion in 1986), Canada's second largest corporation.

National Bank of Canada The National Bank of Canada, with head offices in Montréal, is a Canadian chartered bank which commenced operations in 1979 as a result of the merger between the Banque Canadienne Nationale (founded in 1859 as the Banque National; merged 1924 with Banque d'Hochelaga and new name adopted 1925) and The Provincial Bank of Canada (founded in 1861). In 1981 it purchased Laurentide Mortgage Corporation, which specialized in mortgage loan operations, and...

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on February 12, 1996. Partner content is not updated.

It was a sight to behold: men and women who have dumped all over the province's public electrical utility from the dawn of political time, running in rhetorical circles in an effort to persuade worried voters and nervous consumers that Ontario Hydro's decision to write $6.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on March 2, 1998

UtilitiesUtilities are often described as businesses so "affected with the public interest" that they must be regulated by government regarding entry into (and exit from) the market, rate charges to customers, rate of return allowed to owners, and for the requirement to serve all customers within their area of operation (see REGULATORY PROCESS). Businesses engaged in the production and distribution of electricity, the distribution of natural gas, the distribution of water, telecommunications (particularly telephone service)...