So there I was in Durham near Newcastle, enjoying a pint in a very historic and charming little pub called the Dun Cow (where do the Brits come up with these names). I was looking at some old photos of hard working folks coming out of the mines and couldn’t help but think of B.C.’s [...]
Entries from July 30th, 2010
Western Climate Initiative: another baby step
July 29th, 2010 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
It has been a while but this week climate change is back in the news cycle. The front page of today’s Globe reports on the latest climate impacts tally: The report … concluded 2000 to 2009 was the warmest decade ever, and the Earth has been growing warmer for 50 years. Each of the past [...]
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The U.K. having problems with its P3s
July 27th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Education, Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services
Britain, which led the charge for public private partnerships under both Conservative and Labour governments over the past decades, is now seeing problems with the projects. This month the new coalition government cancelled the controversial Building Schools for the Future program. Michael Gove, the Conservative Secretary of State for Education said the P3 school program [...]
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Marc’s Summer Reading
July 22nd, 2010 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Agriculture, Climate change, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Recommended reading
With summer comes a lightening of my work load, so I’ve finally found some time to dive into a few interesting books. These are all related to my ongoing research interests (I do have some fiction sitting around waiting for a real holiday, with Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna at the top of the pile): The [...]
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The Census: Evidence based decisions better than decision based evidence
July 14th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 8 Comments · Transparency & accountability
There is beginning to be a lot of discussion about the decision by the Federal government two weeks ago to drop the compulsory long form census. Armine Yalnizyan, a senior economist with the CCPA was one of the first people to raise the issue in an open letter to the Minister of Industry who is [...]
Tags: Census·long form census
And now for the bill: the cost of the Olympics
July 12th, 2010 · Marc Lee · 2 Comments · Provincial budget & finance
The BC government has released its final estimates of the cost of staging the 2010 Winter Games, highlighting the problems this government has with telling the truth (other examples include the 2009 pre-election fudge-it budget, and the HST). The Tyee reports: British Columbia’s government spent $325 million more on the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics [...]
Tags: Olympics
BC’s 2009 Super-Fudge-It Budget
July 12th, 2010 · Marc Lee · 4 Comments · BC Election 2009, Provincial budget & finance
Under the “we told you so” category, I am filing the BC public accounts for 2009/10. The province closed the year with a deficit of $1.8 billion. As Will McMartin comments in The Tyee: … B.C.’s public accounts for the fiscal year 2009/2010 conclusively prove that the pre-election fiscal plan foisted on British Columbians by [...]
Tags: deficit
Gas prices and consumption: BC vs Pacific Northwest
July 12th, 2010 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Energy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
On a weekend getaway to Washington state, I was alarmed at how much cheaper gas prices are south of the border. Typically, we paid $3 per gallon, whereas the price in Vancouver upon our return was $1.16 per litre, which is $4.39 per gallon (with the exchange rate roughly parity over the weekend). This is [...]
Good news from the BC government – with a couple of caveats
July 10th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Health care, Provincial budget & finance
The BC government’s announcement July 9th that it had signed a deal on generic drugs with the province’s drug stores is good news. As discussed in an earlier blog, British Columbians have been paying far more than consumers in other jurisdictions for generic drugs. Alberta, Quebec and Ontario had already taken steps to correct this [...]
Tags: generic drugs·PharmaCare
Will the HST boost job growth and when?
July 6th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
As BC and Ontario have now started paying the HST at the till, many people may be wondering when exactly can we expect to see those jobs postings opening up. This is a good question. According to analysis commissioned by the BC government from economist Jack Mintz, titled British Columbia’s Harmonized Sales Tax: A Giant [...]
