The Judge adjudicating the case against BC’s election gag law has said that parts of Bill 42 are not constitutional. Justice Cole of the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued an oral decision today saying the third party spending limits during the 60 day period before the election writ was dropped violated Freedom of Association [...]
Entries from March 27th, 2009
Parts of election gag law unconstitutional
March 27th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words
March 27th, 2009 · Shannon Daub · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Or twenty thousand as the case may be. The CCPA published a number of major studies in recent years about BC’s unacceptably high levels of poverty and homelessness, as well as provincial welfare policies that contribute to hardship and homelessness. These issues are brought to life in a series of narrated slideshows created for the [...]
Tags: homelessness·poverty·welfare
Is the stimulus killing the P3 model?
March 27th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Privatization, P3s & public services
While BC has not formally abandoned the P3 model, there is a notable absence of new P3 projects at a time when billions of dollars are being channeled to infrastructure spending. If P3s really provided value for money and brought the benefits of private sector efficiency and innovation to the delivery of public-sector infrastructure, then [...]
Is funnelling money into shovel-ready projects the best strategy for infrastructure development?
March 27th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
I often get asked: “Shouldn’t we support the Olympics or the Port Mann bridge (or any of the multitude of poorly handled infrastructure projects in our province) despite their substantial cost overruns on the grounds that they will create jobs and benefit the economy?” The problem with this question is that it allows for two [...]
Tags: passenger rail·Port Mann·recession·stimulus·transportation
BC leads country in rising EI claims
March 24th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Employment & labour
According to today’s Statscan release, unemployment insurance (EI) claims were up 47% in January 2009 compared to January 2008. This makes BC the leader in Canada when it comes to rising EI claims. I don’t think that was one of the Great Golden Goals. There is a lag in the EI numbers, since the most [...]
Tags: EI·unemployment·welfare
History lessons for Carole Taylor
March 22nd, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Privatization, P3s & public services
Former Finance Minister Carole Taylor was in court last week testifying in a lawsuit arising from damage to Cambie Street merchants from the Canada Line. She was sympathetic to the merchants but, “It was a TransLink project,” she said. “There’s no question the province didn’t have any control over the project.” She admitted that at [...]
Tags: Canada Line·P3·Translink
Contracting Out: Enough to make you sick
March 21st, 2009 · Colleen Fuller · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Health care
There is now an accumulation of evidence, both international and domestic, that contracting out is good — but only if you happen to own shares in MDS, Sodexho, LifeLabs, Compass, Aramark or any number of other piggybackers. Unfortunately, if you are merely a patient, taxpayer and/or hospital worker you are probably getting sicker, paying more [...]
Statscan spins the recession
March 20th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy
Here is the upbeat take on retail sales from Statistics Canada’s Daily: Retail sales rose 1.9% in January after decreasing 5.2% in December. Sales rose in five of the eight retail sectors, led by a 3.8% increase in the automotive sector. In volume terms, retail sales were up 1.8%. It goes on to report that [...]
Tags: recession
Food as a right of citizenship
March 19th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Housing & homelessness, Municipalities, Poverty, inequality & welfare
I came across an interesting piece in YES! Magazine about a city in Brazil that took an innovative approach to poverty reduction and practically ended hunger by adopting a food-as-a-right policy. Belo Horizonte, the fourth largest city in Brazil, has a population of 2.5 million people, slightly larger than the Lower Mainland. The city grappled [...]
Tags: food security·poverty
Well, now that Alberta is doing it …
March 17th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 2 Comments · BC Election 2009, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare
You could say that BC is more than a little sweet on Alberta. We love their individualistic, tax-cutting, tar-sanding grit. Can’t get enough of it. We even signed a silly economic agreement called TILMA (the BC-Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement) so we could be more like them. If Alberta went and ran massive [...]
Tags: homelessness·housing·poverty·TILMA
