The debate on Bill C-377 has moved to the Senate. As many Policy Note readers probably know, Bill C-377 would impose onerous and unfair financial and operational disclosure obligations on unions and other labour organizations, in the lofty name of “transparency and accountability,” but with the actual malicious aim of weakening Labour and publicizing the [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Law & legal issues'
Thank you, Hugh Segal
February 21st, 2013 · Jonathan Chapnick · 3 Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Human rights, Law & legal issues, Taxes
Tags: democracy·labour rights·Privacy·unions
State of play – 3rd party advertising rules and the 2013 provincial election
February 5th, 2013 · Shannon Daub · 4 Comments · Electoral reform, Law & legal issues
BC’s third party election advertising law has been highly controversial since its introduction in 2008. I wrote the following briefing note to help organizations understand if/how the law affects them. BC’s 3rd party election advertising law applies to many many kinds of public communication during a provincial election campaign — so even if you don’t [...]
Tags:
An inadequate appeal process for tenants means a bumpy ride for everyone
January 24th, 2013 · Kendra Milne · 1 Comment · Housing & homelessness, Law & legal issues
(Co-authored by Kendra Milne and Jess Hadley, staff lawyers at the Community Legal Assistance Society) Earlier this week, we read with interest Kathy Tomlinson’s January 21st CBC Go Public story, “Landlords ‘powerless’ as tenants get free ride”, which investigates one family of tenants who have apparently taken advantage of several successive landlords. In her article, [...]
Tags: homelessness·housing
Need for a Regional Police Force
January 3rd, 2013 · Marjorie Griffin Cohen · Comments Off · Law & legal issues
Creating a Vancouver region police force is at least one recommendation of the Missing Women Inquiry that should be put into effect as soon as possible. This will be difficult, mainly because the RCMP, with a 20 year contract that was put in place last March, is not going to be easily dislodged from the [...]
Tags: Opal Commission·police
Imbalance in residential tenancy rights enforcement in BC
October 25th, 2012 · Kendra Milne · 3 Comments · Housing & homelessness, Law & legal issues
Yesterday some media outlets reported that the Residential Tenancy Branch has conditionally waived the first (and to my knowledge only) administrative penalty it has issued. BC’s Residential Tenancy Act was amended in 2006 to allow the Branch to issue administrative penalties, essentially monetary fines, against landlords or tenants that contravene the Act or repeatedly ignore [...]
Tags: housing·inequality
Getting it Wrong For Seniors in British Columbia
September 27th, 2012 · Jonathan Chapnick · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Health care, Law & legal issues, Privatization, P3s & public services
Seniors and their families need and should have access to useful information when they are making critical decisions about residential care and throughout the period of residence in facilities. – BC Ombudsperson, The Best of Care: Getting It Right for Seniors in British Columbia (Part 1) Mass replacement of staff can occur when facility operators switch [...]
Tags: contracting out·health care·labour·privatization·seniors
Christy Clark, George Abbott – meet Jeffrey Moore
March 14th, 2012 · Jonathan Chapnick · 3 Comments · Children & youth, Education, Human rights, Law & legal issues
There’s a freight train heading for BC’s education system — and it’s not being driven by government or teachers. This train hit the tracks long before the current collective bargaining dispute. Its operator is an eight-year-old boy from North Vancouver, named Jeffrey Moore. With the support of his family, Jeffrey is driving a human rights [...]
Whatever happened to gender identity and expression?
February 5th, 2012 · Jonathan Chapnick · Comments Off · Human rights, Law & legal issues
A year ago this week, Bill C-389, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression), passed third reading in the House of Commons, receiving support from MPs from all political parties. So whatever happened to it? The private member’s bill, sponsored by former Burnaby-Douglas MP [...]
Tags: gender identity
Rights-based legal aid: a proposal for BC
November 9th, 2010 · Sarah Leavitt · Comments Off · Law & legal issues
CCPA-BC’s new study on legal aid in BC explores the impact of cuts to the system and proposes a new rights-based approach that would cut both economic and social costs. Listen to interviews with the authors on CBC’s Early Edition, Jim Harrison’s show on CHNL in Kamloops and Adam Stirling’s show on CFAX in Victoria. [...]
Tags: human rights·legal aid·Women
Premier picks “can do” guy to sell HST in Cabinet shuffle
October 27th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Law & legal issues
MLA John Les returned from the political wilderness Monday when the Premier appointed him Parliamentary Secretary for HST Information in his Cabinet shuffle. In my mind it was one the most dubious choices in what was a controversial remixing at the top. Earlier, Les had served as Solicitor General until losing his post during an [...]
