CCPA Policy Note

Seth Klein’s Blog Posts

Seth Klein is the BC Director of the CCPA. Seth’s research deals primarily with welfare policy, poverty, inequality and economic security. A social activist for over 20 years and a former teacher, Seth is a founding board member with the Vancouver-based Centre for Native Policy and Research. He is also an advisory board member for the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance, and an advisor and instructor for Next Up, a leadership program for young people committed to social and environmental justice.

Reaction to the Tamil boat: curious comparisons

August 21st, 2010 · Seth Klein · 18 Comments · Immigrants & refugees

If the 492 Tamil asylum-seekers who recently arrived by boat on BC’s shores are “queue-jumpers”, then I guess my parents were too. See, they came as Vietnam War draft dodgers from the US in 1967. Like a couple of the Tamil women just arrived, my mom was pregnant with me. My parents did not seek [...]

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Poverty reduction: What other provinces are doing

June 8th, 2010 · Seth Klein · No Comments · Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare

BC has much to learn from other provinces when it comes to poverty reduction. Six provinces now have poverty reduction plans, although most are still fairly new, and therefore we don’t yet have data to tell us what kind of success they are meeting with, the exceptions being Quebec and Newfoundland. What their plans and [...]

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Child poverty: How does BC stack up against those provinces with a plan?

May 29th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 1 Comment · Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare

A week ago, I appeared before the BC Legislature’s Standing Committee on Children and Youth. The committee, to its credit, had decided to spend a day hearing witnesses on the subject of child poverty, and what BC could do to make a difference. Among the points I raised with the committee: too often this issue [...]

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Early indicators of how the recession has hit BC’s poor

May 29th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 1 Comment · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare

Just wanted to draw readers’ attention to a great op-ed piece in The Province newspaper this past Thursday: “Recession slammed BC’s poor; and it’s not over,” by Chandra Pasma. Chandra is a policy analyst with Citizens for Public Justice (a faith-based social justice group), and author of a recent report entitled Bearing the Brunt: How [...]

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Living Wage 2010

May 4th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 3 Comments · Employment & labour

This morning CCPA-BC released a new study with First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, and the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families Campaign. Working for a Living Wage 2010: Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver updates the first Metro Vancouver calculation published in 2008. The living wage calculation includes [...]

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Living Wage: Congratulations to New Westminster

April 27th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 8 Comments · Children & youth, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare

Some great news to share on the living wage front. Last night (April 26), New Westminster City Council voted unanimously to adopt the first municipal Living Wage policy in Canada. They have used the broad definition of the family living wage, developed two years ago by CCPA, First Call and the Victoria Community Council (meaning, [...]

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Income Taxes are a steal: Seth’s tax confessions

April 5th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 10 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes

I just did my taxes this weekend, and I’m wracked with guilt. Personally, I’ve never found completing my taxes particularly onerous. It takes me a few hours — no big deal. I’m paid well (and well above the average). I’ve never had to hire an accountant, as I’m not doing anything fancy. I’m only availing [...]

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Vancouver’s poverty rate leads country

April 5th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare

Thanks to Jean Swanson for drawing to my attention a new report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities called Mending Canada’s frayed social safety net: The role of municipal governments. The report looks at key social indicators in 24 Canadian municipalities, and contains some stark findings for Vancouver. Jean summarizes these in a blog post [...]

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Will the Olympics boost long-term tourism to BC?

February 15th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 21 Comments · Climate change, Economy

“We’ve invited the world, they’re coming, and the place is a mess.” That was the tag line the CCPA gave to our BC Solutions Budget back in 2004. At the time, we argued as strongly as we could that if BC was to change the story the world would tell of us this month, we [...]

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Clearing the hurdles — sports brands and worker rights

January 15th, 2010 · Seth Klein · No Comments · Employment & labour

As we prepare to host the Olympics, it’s worth thinking about how high (or low) the bar is set by the major companies that make sportswear. Despite some progress in recent years, substantial violations of worker rights and poverty wages are still the norm for workers in the sportswear industry. In response, Play Fair and [...]

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