There is beginning to be a lot of discussion about the decision by the Federal government two weeks ago to drop the compulsory long form census. Armine Yalnizyan, a senior economist with the CCPA was one of the first people to raise the issue in an open letter to the Minister of Industry who is [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Transparency & accountability'
The Census: Evidence based decisions better than decision based evidence
July 14th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 8 Comments · Transparency & accountability
Tags: Census·long form census
A new era for measuring poverty in Canada
June 18th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Transparency & accountability
Last Thursday’s Statistics Canada release of individual and household income data for 2008 marks a new era in the study of poverty in Canada. Instead of reporting only on the Low Income Cut Offs (LICO), as they used to, Statistics Canada reported on three of the most common measures of low income in the same [...]
Tags: data availability·low income·measurement·Statistics Canada
Quebec Auditor General slams P3s in hospital project
June 11th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
Quebec’s Auditor General has issued yet one more report slamming the use of public private partnerships (P3s). With P3s, private corporations finance and operate public facilities and services. The money they invest is more costly than money borrowed publicly. It is paid back to them, along with profits for the corporation, by governments over multi-decade contracts. [...]
Some issues arising from the special advisor’s report on the Vancouver School Board
June 6th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 10 Comments · Education, Transparency & accountability
The special advisor appointed by the provincial government to look at the finances of the Vancouver School Board reported on Friday and a number of issues arise from the report. Before discussing these, however, people should be aware that in my day job I am a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees which [...]
Tags: accountability·Comptroller General·Ministry of Education·Vancouver School Board
Legislative review of FOI Act narrow and timid
June 1st, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Transparency & accountability
A legislative committee reviewing BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act reported on May 31st and the results were disappointing. They certainly did not live up to the previous legislative review in 2004. Back then government backbenchers on the Committee made recommendations leaders of the government didn’t like. The 2004 Committee made recommendations [...]
Summer reading: two experts on privatization
May 20th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Recommended reading, Transparency & accountability
Policy Note has asked CCPA Research Associates who contribute to the blog to suggest some ideas for summer reading. I am going to cheat a bit by suggesting two books. I am going to cheat even more by admitting I haven’t read one of them. I spend a lot of my time reading and writing [...]
Tags: Summer Reading
Problems for the South Fraser Perimeter Road P3?
May 12th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Environment, resources & sustainability, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
There are some interesting recent developments on the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) public private partnership project. A press release issued Friday afternoon announced the successful bidder in response to a Requests for Proposal. The results may not be what we were led to expect. The SFPR project is part of the Province’s Gateway project [...]
Tags: Gateway·Ministry of Transportation·P3·Partnerships BC·South Fraser Perimeter Road
BC opens door to private jails
May 2nd, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Human rights, Law & legal issues, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
The BC government has taken the next step down the privatization road by opening the door to private prisons. On April 28th Partnerships BC posted a request for qualification on the BC Bid web site for a public private partnership (P3) for the Surrey Pretrial Centre. You need to register with Bid BC to see [...]
It’s not just about size: what makes up our tax bill matters
April 20th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes, Transparency & accountability
The Fraser Institute and the CCPA do not typically see eye to eye, but they seem to agree that personal income taxes take up a relatively small fraction of the average tax bill — about 13 – 14%. According to the Fraser Institute’s recent report on the average Canadian family’s tax bill, the average family [...]
Tags: equity·Fraser Institute·income taxes·tax cuts·tax fairness·Taxes
Legislative watch dogs get “reviewed.” Is there a leash in their future?
April 8th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Transparency & accountability
For some reason it makes me nervous when I hear that people who sometimes make life difficult for the government are being “reviewed.” And it makes me even more nervous when it is happening completely in the shadows. On March 3rd the Speaker of BC’s Legislature announced the creation of a panel to review the [...]
Tags: Auditor General·Children and Youth·Legislative Officers·Legislature
