Media attention may still be firmly focused on athletes and tourists today, but we’re already starting to see hints about what will dominate BC’s post-Olympics discourse.
The fear-mongering around our provincial debt and deficits is making a return
Entries Tagged as 'Transparency & accountability'
BC’s budget deficit third smallest in Canada
March 1st, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
Loukidelis did good work for government accountability. Now it’s a legislative committee’s turn.
January 24th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Law & legal issues, Transparency & accountability
David Loukidelis, British Columbia’s Freedom of Information Commissioner has accepted the new role as the province’s deputy attorney general. Vaughn Palmer did a good column on the switch in jobs but I thought Loukidelis deserved more credit for his ten years on the job.
Personally, I think Loukidelis’s leadership was almost completely responsible for BC’s FOI legislation keeping [...]
Tags: accountability·FOI·Loukidelis
AG’s office changes policy
December 9th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
BC’s Auditor General has made an important change in the way his office does its work that will help guarantee the independence of his office.
In the past, part of the money that paid for the operation of the AG’s Office came from providing contracted services to organizations like crown corporations and other agencies outside of [...]
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CPRN: RIP – the loss of an independent voice
October 30th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Transparency & accountability
There was sad news yesterday for those of us who are policy wonks and for anyone else who pays serious attention to public issues in Canada.
After 15 years of public policy research the Canadian Policy Research Network is closing its doors. The organization’s president, Dr. Sharon Manson Singer announced they were no longer financially viable.
The [...]
Tags: CPRN
The recent secretive, haphazard spending cuts should be repealed
September 23rd, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Children & youth, Economy, Education, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability, Women
Almost daily we wake up to news of yet another important program or initiative whose funding has been cut by the BC government. Literacy initiatives, high school sports, programs that protect women and children from violence, arts and culture: hardly an area of social service provision has been spared.
These cuts have been devastating to many [...]
Tags: accountability·budget·children·deficit·role of government·service cuts·Women
Piecing together the puzzle: help us track BC government cuts
September 17th, 2009 · Sarah Leavitt · 4 Comments · Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
Since winning the May election, the provincial government has been steadily cutting public services, often without any public announcement. These cuts affect services ranging from the arts to seniors’ care to public schools. They will be particularly hard on the most vulnerable members of our society.
In the absence of comprehensive information from the provincial government [...]
Tags: service cuts
Government compliance with legal obligations "far from good"
February 15th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Transparency & accountability
BC’s Freedom of Information Commissioner released his annual report last Friday. These reports are a pretty good indication of how open and transparent our government is.
The Commissioner is unhappy and he says so in tough language:
The stark fact is that the government’s overall record of compliance with its legal obligations under FIPPA is far [...]
Obama opens doors closed in BC
January 25th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Transparency & accountability
One of President Barack Obama’s first acts was to reverse an order from the Bush regime that undermined Freedom of Information requests. What a contrast to the British Columbia government.
In opposition Gordon Campbell was a big freedom of Information supporter. In 1998 he wrote to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association saying:
The [...]
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