For the last 30 years or so when confronted with a thorny issue I have often asked myself this question: what would Stanley say? This is the lens I would like to apply to Brigette Marcelle’s actions in the Senate last week. Marcelle is the young Senate page who during the Speech from the Throne [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Transparency & accountability'
What would Stanley say about Brigette Marcelle?
June 4th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · 11 Comments · Electoral reform, Transparency & accountability
Suspicion about private finance schemes growing in the UK
June 2nd, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · 5 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
On May 16th British Columbia’s Auditor General published a report on Vancouver General Hospital P3 that raised serious doubts about public private partnerships in British Columbia. In the UK, where P3s have been around a lot longer, the doubts are getting even graver. Under P3s, or private finance initiative (PFI) as they are known in [...]
British Columbia Auditor finds costly failings in Province’s first hospital P3
May 23rd, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
A new report by British Columbia’s Auditor General has debunked nearly every benefit claimed so far for public private partnerships (P3s). The Auditor General’s report on a Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) project adds to earlier criticisms by his counterparts about failings in P3 hospital projects in Quebec and Ontario. The BC report, released on [...]
Open government a Cabinet secret declares BC Minister
May 7th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Transparency & accountability
I love reading Estimates debates in the legislature. It is a rare opportunity for Opposition critics to grill their assigned Cabinet Ministers at length. Sometimes the oddest things come out. On Wednesday the NDP Critic Doug Routley was questioning the Minister for Citizen Services and Open Government Stephanie Cadieux. It turns out that following up on [...]
Harper’s Reckless Economics
May 1st, 2011 · Marjorie Griffin Cohen · 2 Comments · Taxes, Transparency & accountability
Throughout the election campaign Stephen Harper claimed the political high ground on the management of the economy. The surprise is that the opposition has pretty much let him get away with this. During the English Language debate the first question focused on $6 billion tax cuts to corporations. Harper said there were no tax cuts [...]
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Much ado about the provincial debt
February 16th, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · Economy, Media, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
If you read Vaughn Palmer’s online budget analysis in the Vancouver Sun, you’d be forgiven thinking that deficit hysteria is making a comeback in BC. The title of his online piece, Debt Hits Historic High, disappoints with its blatant sensationalism. Yes, it is technically true that in straight up current dollars debt hit a historic [...]
Raising the minimum wage: not if but how much and how fast
February 10th, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Transparency & accountability
While lone voices from the business sector still oppose a minimum wage increase (as in this article in The Province), the minimum wage debate in BC has now firmly shifted past the question of whether we should raise it or not. Virtually all leadership contenders for both the BC Liberals and the BC NDP have [...]
Tags: inequality·leadership race·minimum wage·poverty·poverty reduction
Reducing the space for democracy – one speaker from the CCPA’s 30th anniversary
November 21st, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Human rights, Immigrants & refugees, Transparency & accountability
Last week I was lucky enough to join 250 people in Ottawa for a daylong conference to honour the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Nine different speakers and two intelligent moderators focused the audience on the democratic and economic challenges we face as a Canadians and some solutions we need to [...]
Auditor has reservations about the government’s books
November 2nd, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
For two years in a row BC’s Auditor General has placed reservations on his report that looks at the Province’s finances as set out in the Public Accounts. This means that the AG disagrees with the way the province is keeping its books on three different issues. He also presents other ideas on what the [...]
On average, who knew Wednesday was World Statistics Day?
October 22nd, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Transparency & accountability
I’ll bet I was one of the few people in British Columbia that was a little excited that last Wednesday was set aside to honour statistics. The United Nations General Assembly declared October 20th World Statistics Day. The Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs issued a statement saying: Reliable, timely data are crucial for economic [...]
Tags: Census·statistics·United Nations
