The special advisor appointed by the provincial government to look at the finances of the Vancouver School Board reported on Friday and a number of issues arise from the report. Before discussing these, however, people should be aware that in my day job I am a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees which [...]
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.
Some issues arising from the special advisor’s report on the Vancouver School Board
June 6th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 10 Comments · Education, Transparency & accountability
Tags: accountability·Comptroller General·Ministry of Education·Vancouver School Board
Legislative review of FOI Act narrow and timid
June 1st, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Transparency & accountability
A legislative committee reviewing BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act reported on May 31st and the results were disappointing. They certainly did not live up to the previous legislative review in 2004. Back then government backbenchers on the Committee made recommendations leaders of the government didn’t like. The 2004 Committee made recommendations [...]
Privacy, Facebook and a New Information and Privacy Commissioner
May 24th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Law & legal issues
Sometimes personal and policy issues collide or at least slide in side-by-side. That happened for me when the BC Legislature appointed Elizabeth Denham as the province’s new Information and Privacy Commissioner on May 6th. Denham’s biography shows she has a strong background in privacy issues. From 2003 to 2007 she worked on private sector privacy [...]
Tags: Elizabeth Denham·Facebook·Information and Privacy Commissioner·Privacy
Summer reading: two experts on privatization
May 20th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Recommended reading, Transparency & accountability
Policy Note has asked CCPA Research Associates who contribute to the blog to suggest some ideas for summer reading. I am going to cheat a bit by suggesting two books. I am going to cheat even more by admitting I haven’t read one of them. I spend a lot of my time reading and writing [...]
Tags: Summer Reading
Problems for the South Fraser Perimeter Road P3?
May 12th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Environment, resources & sustainability, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
There are some interesting recent developments on the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) public private partnership project. A press release issued Friday afternoon announced the successful bidder in response to a Requests for Proposal. The results may not be what we were led to expect. The SFPR project is part of the Province’s Gateway project [...]
Tags: Gateway·Ministry of Transportation·P3·Partnerships BC·South Fraser Perimeter Road
BC opens door to private jails
May 2nd, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Human rights, Law & legal issues, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
The BC government has taken the next step down the privatization road by opening the door to private prisons. On April 28th Partnerships BC posted a request for qualification on the BC Bid web site for a public private partnership (P3) for the Surrey Pretrial Centre. You need to register with Bid BC to see [...]
Message to school boards: Shut the hell up
April 15th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 5 Comments · Education, Provincial budget & finance
The punch may have landed on the Vancouver School Board but make no mistake; BC Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid just took a swing at every school board in the province. The Minister’s imposition of the province’s Comptroller General as a budget cop for the Vancouver school board sends a clear message to other school districts. [...]
Legislative watch dogs get “reviewed.” Is there a leash in their future?
April 8th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Transparency & accountability
For some reason it makes me nervous when I hear that people who sometimes make life difficult for the government are being “reviewed.” And it makes me even more nervous when it is happening completely in the shadows. On March 3rd the Speaker of BC’s Legislature announced the creation of a panel to review the [...]
Tags: Auditor General·Children and Youth·Legislative Officers·Legislature
Victoria’s billion dollar P3 decision
March 16th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 4 Comments · Environment, resources & sustainability, Municipalities, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
On March 24th the Victoria area’s Capital Regional District (CRD) is going to make a billion dollar decision. The province has ordered the CRD to end its controversial practice of pumping raw sewage into the ocean. But it has also ordered the CRD to consider using a public private partnership (P3) for the project. Regardless [...]
Tags:
Assistance recipients on government hit list
March 8th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 10 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
Last week CBC reported cuts in social assistance services for British Columbia’s most challenged citizens. The story received almost no coverage in most other media, so it is probably worthwhile just to highlight what the government thinks must be cut to pay for their deficit. On March 4th the government issued a press release with [...]
Tags:
