With all of the uproar over the British Columbia Auditor General’s report on the Pacific Carbon Trust in late March there was a second report that didn’t get as much attention as it deserves. The AG issued his report on the Evergreen Line being built through Coquitlam and Port Moody on March 28th. Compared to [...]
Keith Reynolds’s Blog Posts
Keith Reynolds is a National Research Representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees. He has done policy work for all three levels of government. Keith maintains a Facebook page in honour of BC cheese.
BC’s Auditor highlights big differences between the Evergreen and Canada Lines
April 4th, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Provincial budget & finance
BC governments extends outsourced health information management despite issues raised by Auditor General
March 11th, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
British Columbia’s government today announced it had extended its agreement with Maximus BC, a US subsidiary corporation, to manage BC’s health information for another five years. The $264 million contract will run from 2015 until 2020. The original contract began in 2005. That ten year deal cost $324 million. On a comparable basis the new five year [...]
A new government? It’s not as easy as it looks
February 28th, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Economy, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
If there is a new government in BC on May 15th, it will be confronted with issues that make the transition particularly challenging. The financial issues are a given. Debt has gone up. Possibly, given the economic recession we faced, it should have gone up even further. The dramatic rise in long term contractual obligations [...]
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BC’s social infrastructure house of cards
February 23rd, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Children & youth, Education, Poverty, inequality & welfare
In her report on BC’s 2013 budget CCPA-BC economist Iglika Ivanova concluded that the province’s financial statement focused on balancing the budget at the expense of British Columbians’ present and future wellbeing. The following are a few examples of this. Last Tuesday’s budget continues a 12 year record of systematically undermining the province’s social infrastructure. [...]
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Are tax havens robbing the government of revenue from P3s? Nobody seems to care
January 2nd, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services
When British Columbia sets up public private partnerships (P3s) to let the private sector operate hospitals, roads and bridges, one of the considerations is taxes. However, when down the road ownership of the P3 private operator gets moved to a tax haven, it appears there is no subsequent examination of the impact on provincial revenues. [...]
Tags: P3·Tax Havens
England’s serious debate about living wages
November 8th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Employment & labour
I was in London for the last week and I was amazed to see what a big issue the idea of paying people a living wage has become there. The living wage, as opposed to the minimum wage, is based on what a family needs to have the essentials of life. Last week a KPMG [...]
Tags: living wage
The importance of culture in big decisions
October 6th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Uncategorized
I sometimes think we underestimate the difference in culture between the various regions of Canada. I was reminded of that last month at a meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities. The UBCM always has separate forums for local governments of various sizes. I always make a point of attending the Electoral Areas Directors’ Forum. [...]
Tags: culture
Expert Panel on Business Taxation sides with local governments
September 26th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Municipalities, Taxes, Uncategorized
Hundreds of mayors, municipal councilors and regional district directors are meeting this week in Victoria at the annual gathering of the Union of BC Municipalities. And not surprisingly, one of the major topics of discussion in the first three days has been the taxes local governments collect to provide their services. The local government leaders [...]
Tags: CFIB·Taxpayers Federation·UBCM
Construction industry accuses Partnerships BC of conflict of interest
September 15th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Privatization, P3s & public services
I think that Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association, is probably more hostile to the interests of working people than just about anybody else in British Columbia. So when I find myself agreeing with him on something, my fingers twitch at the keyboard. But that is just what happened with the [...]
Bank of Canada President says to end privatization of gains and socialization of losses
August 24th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Here in BC Bank of Canada President Mark Carney’s speech to the Canadian Auto Workers convention got less attention than it seemed to get back east. It deserves more attention. The biggest news coming out of the event was not in the speech itself but in the question period afterwards. Here Carney told the CAW [...]
