Legislated Paid Sick Leave – A Historic Moment for Worker Rights

Oct 6, 2021
The BC government will implement the right for all employees to have a minimum number of employer-paid sick days on January 1, 2022. BC will become just the third province in Canada to do so—and has an opportunity to make history by bringing in the strongest, most well-designed program in the country. Last May, the provincial government established… View Article

Remembering Murray Dobbin—activist, intellectual, mentor, friend

Sep 27, 2021
Neoliberal myth-buster. Far right exposer. Movement philosopher. Activist mentor. Murray Dobbin was all of these. On Sept. 8, our good friend and comrade Murray died at age 76. Murray was not ready to leave, but after two-and-a-half years the inexorable brutality of cancer led him to choose medical assistance in dying to end his life… View Article

BC’s human rights inquiry into hate incidents better late than never

Sep 24, 2021
Last month, BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) announced it had been monitoring incidents of hate and white supremacy, noting a significant increase in reported hate-related incidents throughout BC since early 2020. According to their terms of reference, the Human Rights Commissioner will launch an inquiry into hate incidents, examine causes of the… View Article
Woman washing window with medical mask on

Will BC enact a robust paid sick days plan, or will corporate power derail it?

Sep 17, 2021
British Columbians are on the cusp of winning a meaningful right to paid sick days—if the powerful corporate lobby doesn’t get its way. Paid sick days are common sense and already a right of workers in many advanced democracies around the world. The idea is simple. If you’re sick, you stay home and you get… View Article
Tax the rich

Robust wealth tax could raise $363B over 10 years

Sep 14, 2021
Amid a rise in extreme inequality, the idea of an annual tax on the wealth of the super-rich has risen to prominence in recent years in many countries. New analysis shows that a robust wealth tax in Canada—one that goes further than those currently on the table in the federal election—could raise well over a… View Article
Smoke stack

For climate’s sake, Canada Pension Plan needs to take a serious look at its investments

Sep 10, 2021
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) manages the pensions of 20 million Canadians. In a recent Corporate Mapping Project report, we found that the CPP has increased the number of shares it owns in fossil fuel companies since Canada signed the Paris Agreement five years ago. The CPP’s total fossil fuel investments across its entire portfolio… View Article
Masked crowd

11 steps toward a more just society for Budgets ‘22 and beyond

Aug 25, 2021
As a fourth wave of COVID-19 ramps up, the impact of the pandemic on the economy, policymaking and budgets has not gone away. More broadly, government responses to the pandemic at both the national and provincial levels have generally been seen as a success. Much like in WWII, this appears to have led to a… View Article

CPP oil investments on the rise

Aug 12, 2021
From unprecedented droughts to deadly heat waves, climate change is making the present—and all of our futures—less secure. The dream of a tranquil retirement is already being interrupted by nightmares such as the wildfires raging across BC and Alberta this summer.  Sadly, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), which was designed to enhance our retirement security,… View Article

Big ideas on the supply side of housing affordability

Jul 14, 2021
The final report of the Canada-British Columbia Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability, published in June 2021, contains 23 recommendations made primarily to the BC and federal governments. The Panel organized these under five broad calls to action:    Creating a planning framework that proactively encourages housing;   Reforming fees on… View Article

In a flawed survey, BC seeks input on changes to freedom of information and privacy

Jul 12, 2021
It is again time to review British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. Every six years the legislature reviews the Act and the process has begun with the province placing a questionnaire online asking for people’s opinions. But before you go online to respond to the survey you might be interested in some background… View Article

BC’s reopening plans must address highly unequal pandemic impacts

Jul 7, 2021
As a successful vaccination campaign spurs broader reopening of BC’s economy, we are all feeling the excitement of a more relaxed summer. But in the rush to get back to a semblance of normal, it would be a huge mistake to return to the pre-pandemic status quo of undervaluing and underpaying the front-line caring and… View Article

More than intentions needed for BC forests

Jun 29, 2021
So, our provincial government “intends” to do something about the sorry state of our forests and forest industry. It intends to protect more old-growth forests. It intends to see more high-value wood products made in British Columbia. It intends to make rural communities more secure. And it intends to do all this while ending practices… View Article

Canada’s road to zero carbon emissions full of dangerous distractions

Jun 28, 2021
Net zero is increasingly used regarding emissions reduction targets. But what does it really mean?  With the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (Bill C-12) Canada is joining many nations in setting a target of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Unfortunately, this conversation promises to be a dangerous distraction for Canadian policy makers,… View Article

Ottawa’s fixation with trees and climate: What exactly are we planting?

Jun 18, 2021
By two significant measures, last year’s effort to plant 300 million tree seedlings in Canada’s most forest-rich province was a remarkable achievement. Not only was it a record for a single year in British Columbia, but it was achieved in the early throes of the first lockdown associated with the then relatively new COVID-19 pandemic…. View Article

Canada’s Carbon Conundrum and the Difficult Path Forward

Jun 7, 2021
Since the first oil well was drilled in 1859 humans have been on a roll. Global population has increased more than six-fold and energy use per capita has grown more than nine-fold. Accompanying this explosive growth in energy use was unprecedented economic expansion—since 1965 global GDP has grown 6.8-fold and per capita GDP has increased… View Article

Priming the pump

May 26, 2021
Scientist warns cumulative effect of thousands of fracked gas wells means powerful earthquakes ahead for northeast BC Massive amounts of water pumped with brute force into the earth at thousands of fracking operations is priming the pump for potentially deadly earthquakes in British Columbia’s Montney basin, warns a former top scientist with BC’s Oil and… View Article

Out of water?

May 20, 2021
As deadline looms, thousands of BC groundwater users risk losing access to water, but not most water bottling, fracking and mining companies In February 2018, the head of a little-known Surrey-based company asked the BC government for a licence to withdraw 864 cubic metres of water per day from a well drilled deep into the… View Article

Indigenous resurgence in a province like no other

May 18, 2021
After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this province? John Price and Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton, co-authors in the new book… View Article

Nothing ‘liberal’ about colonial policy prior to Confederation

May 14, 2021
After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis in this province. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this province? John Price and Nicholas XEMŦOLTW Claxton, co-authors of… View Article

From the colonial past to the racist present

May 11, 2021
The terms of union and the attempted erasure of Indigenous Peoples After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission action agenda, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this… View Article