BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) released a report yesterday showing secrecy in government is even a bigger problem that we thought. A February report from BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner’s described what he called, “an unacceptable pattern of government-wide failure to respond to access requests in as timely a fashion as it [...]
Entries Tagged as 'BC Election 2009'
Report finds government stonewalling on FOI requests
May 8th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009
Mischief making by oil and gas industry
May 8th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 1 Comment · BC Election 2009, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
Ben Parfitt and I submitted the following letter to the Vancouver Sun yesterday. Hopefully it will run in the next couple days. Here it is: Letter to the editor Re. “Maintaining momentum in oil and gas,” May 7. The oil and gas industry should stop its political mischief-making, and obfuscating the numbers about the industry’s [...]
Tags: BC Oil and Gas Commission·David Collyer·flaring·greenhouse gas·oil and gas
BC government should heed its own report on childcare
May 7th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Women
Do you remember the 2008 Throne Speech in which the provincial government launched a feasibility study on providing full day kindergarten for 5 year-olds and extending full day preschool options to younger children as well? Here’s a refresher: A new Early Childhood Learning Agency will be established. It will assess the feasibility and costs of [...]
Tags: childcare·children·early childhood education·Early Childhood Learning Agency·kindergarten·teachers·Women
What are we going to do with the oil and gas industry?
May 7th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability
That is the question no one seems willing to entertain in this election campaign. In today’s Vancouver Sun, David Collyer of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers makes the case for expanding the industry based on some dubious facts. First there is this gem: The industry has invested almost $30 billion dollars in British Columbia [...]
Tags: BC Oil and Gas Commission·David Collyer·employment·flaring·greenhouse gas·oil and gas·Petroleum Producers
Why young children’s education and care are not priorities in this election
May 7th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Economy, Education, Women
It seems clear that policy-makers in this province (and country, for that matter) are not prepared to invest in a quality early education and childcare system, despite the proven benefits for children. The reasons have got to be political, as the economic case for investing in early childhood education and care has already been made [...]
Tags: baby boomers·campaign·childcare·children·early childhood education·feminism·gender inequality·health promotion·intergenerational justice·Paul Kershaw·Paul Krugman·seniors·Women
Poverty reduction and the party platforms
May 7th, 2009 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Poverty, inequality & welfare
The CCPA is a member of the BC Poverty Reduction Committee, the network that has been pressing all the BC political parties to commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction plan. Over 280 organizations have now signed an Open Letter to all the political parties calling on them to commit to a poverty reduciton plan with [...]
Tags: campaign·child poverty·children·employment·Greens·Liberals·NDP·platform·poverty·Poverty Reduction Coalition·Steve Kerstetter·unemployment
There is more to good economic policy than protecting the interests of employers
May 6th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability
Next week’s election will take place in the midst of an economic crisis which hit our province seemingly out of the blue last fall and hit us hard, causing 69,000 job losses between November and March (the April numbers will be released on Friday, May 8, and are expected to be just as grim as [...]
Tags: campaign·green infrastructure·inequality·Liberals·NDP·Obama·platform·recession·tax cuts·unemployment
The Case for STV
May 6th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Electoral reform
One final article from our BC Commentary special: The Case for the BC Single Transferable Vote (BC-STV) by David Huntley and Michael Wortis BC-STV has many advantages over the current First-Past-the-Post system (FPTP) used for electing our MLAs. BC-STV will achieve a reasonably proportional representation of parties, with the number of MLAs of each party [...]
Tags: coalition government·David Huntley·FPTP·majoritarian·Michael Wortis·minority government·STV & electoral reform
The Case Against STV
May 5th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Electoral reform
More from our BC Commentary special on STV: The Case Against STV By David Schreck Will STV “make your vote count”? Actually, BC-STV can make your vote worth less and make your MLA less accountable. Our existing first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is not perfect, but it is better than BC-STV. Inequality is inherent in BC-STV. The [...]
Tags: accountability·David Schreck·FPTP·STV & electoral reform
A Framework for Enhancing Home Support in BC
May 4th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Health care
Home support is an important element of the broader home and community care system, which unfortunately tends to get overlooked in many health care discussions. Home support serves an important dual purpose: it improves the quality of life of vulnerable citizens by allowing them to continue living independently in their own homes and it enables [...]
Tags: baby boomers·health care costs·home and community care·home support·seniors
