Today we released a new Climate Justice Project report, Fighting Energy Poverty in the Transition to Zero-Emission Housing: A Framework for BC, by yours truly, Eugene Kung (a lawyer with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre and a steering committee member of the CJP) and Jason Owen (who worked on this project as a student at UBC, now with [...]
Entries from September 28th, 2011
Fighting energy poverty
September 28th, 2011 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Economy, Energy, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare
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Will the “Jobs Plan” just add to the government trust deficit?
September 24th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Economy, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
There has been some very good analysis written about the details of this week’s roll out of the BC Liberal government’s “Jobs Plan.” A number of pieces are on this site. Marc Lee and Iglika Ivanova had an excellent column in the Sun. Instead of commenting on the policy thrust, however, I would like to [...]
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A ‘Jobs for Jobs’ Strategy
September 23rd, 2011 · Marvin Shaffer · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Energy
It is ironic that within weeks of its much publicized report and stated concern about the upward pressures on BC Hydro rates, the government announces a job strategy that will drive up electricity rates more than anything else — more even than the self-sufficiency policy government has belatedly recognized must go. The plan for new [...]
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Are international students the key to jobs in BC
September 21st, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Education, Employment & labour
The second day of the roll out of the Premier’s jobs agenda was marked by a single announcement made at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. The focus of this piece of the jobs puzzle was ramping up international education and regional skills training. The idea of leveraging education, especially post-secondary education, to boost the economy [...]
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“Climate change starts here: the BC dirty jobs plan”
September 19th, 2011 · Marc Lee · 4 Comments · Climate change, Economy, Energy
We are still on Day One of the Jobs Plan, and the afternoon news is all about proposed liquid natural gas plants in Kitimat, which will take pipelined gas and send it by tanker to Asia. Quoth the Premier: Creating a new industry with the capacity to export B.C.’s natural gas to overseas markets for [...]
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Jobs and BC’s Resource Extraction Mindset
September 19th, 2011 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Economy
Day One of the week-long BC’s Jobs Plan: the Premier was in Prince Rupert to announce a commitment to making the port a “gateway” to Asia. Quoth Premier Clark: I am in Prince Rupert today because if you are looking at Canada from Asia, with an eye to investing in our country, Canada truly starts [...]
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The real impact of HST’s defeat on provincial finances
September 9th, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · 16 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes, Transparency & accountability
On Sept 8, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon released a much anticipated update on provincial finances. The Minster’s presentation focused on highlighting the cost of the move back to PST/GST, providing some large numbers for the media headlines, instead of looking at the big picture. In case you missed the media coverage, the provincial coffers are [...]
So Where is the Science?
September 8th, 2011 · Marvin Shaffer · 2 Comments · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
The headline in the Globe today was certainly ominous — “Clark’s Hydro policy threatens to collapse B.C.’s climate change progress, scientist says”. The purported policy change seemed scary — the government might roll back the requirement for BC Hydro to be able to meet domestic electricity requirements in drought conditions. And the scientist’s description of [...]
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