“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 [...]
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.
Will the Olympics boost long-term tourism to BC?
February 15th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 19 Comments · Climate change, Economy
Tags: Olympics
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 [...]
Tags: Olympics
Child Poverty in BC — taking a look back
January 15th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare
In response to the provincial government’s efforts to explain away child poverty stats, First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition (which produces the annual BC child poverty report card) has started to produce monthly fact sheets to set the record straight.
The first of these short reports was posted to their website this week.
The report [...]
Tags: child poverty·poverty
Housing Solutions
January 2nd, 2010 · Seth Klein · No Comments · Housing & homelessness
Just wanted to give our blog readers a plug for an excellent collection on housing solutions. Some of you have likely been following the Tyee’s excellent series of articles on housing and homelessness, written by Monte Paulsen. Now the Tyee has put that whole series together in a single pdf collection. You can find it [...]
Tags: homelessness·housing
Healthy eating put out of reach for the poor
December 16th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 5 Comments · Children & youth, Health care, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Remember the Premier’s “Great Golden Goal” (G3?) about healthy eating? True, we don’t hear so much about it these days. But it was a laudable goal. Eating a healthy diet is important if we are to improve the overall health of the population, and thereby help to slow rising health care costs. And it’s particularly [...]
Food Bank use takes a distressing jump
November 19th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare
On Tuesday, Food Banks Canada (the national association of food banks) released its annual Hunger Count report. While the report received some good national coverage (particularly on CBC), I was surprised to see no mention of it in the Vancouver Sun.
The report, which surveys food banks across the country every March, found that in March [...]
Strengthening the CPP: Maybe the Americans are on to something
October 31st, 2009 · Seth Klein · 1 Comment · Economy, Taxes
As we emerge from the financial crisis, a new and welcome debate is beginning about how we stabilize and strengthen our pension system. The financial crisis provided a rude (and in some cases surprising) reminder to many retirees (and near retirees) that their private pensions are far from secure. Many took a beating on their [...]
Tags:
Climate deniers – what more evidence will it take?
October 28th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 9 Comments · Climate change
In this lead up to the Copenhagen meetings, it seems to me that we’re seeing a distressing up-tick in activity from the climate denial crowd. You’d think we’d be well past this point now.
Some people seem prepared to take the lack of 100% agreement as a legitimate justification for inaction. That’s illogical.
I’m a parent, and [...]
Tags: greenhouse gas
HST: Why do the Feds want it so bad?
October 7th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 3 Comments · Economy, Taxes
As the debate rages in BC about the Harmonized Sales Tax, one curious dimension I’ve been puzzling over is this––why do the Feds want the HST implemented so badly that they are willing to fork over $1.6 billion to the province as an enticement?
And it isn’t just the federal Conservatives. Ever since the introduction of [...]
James at the UBCM: A welcome move off revenue-neutrality
October 6th, 2009 · Seth Klein · No Comments · Climate change, Economy, Taxes
In her speech last Thursday to the annual meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities, NDP leader Carole James declared:
“I am calling on the provincial government to cancel the corporate tax cuts that are scheduled to come in over the next two years related to the carbon tax. And let’s put that money into a [...]
