Today in the BC Legislature, the Official Opposition (MLA Shane Simpson) introduced a private member’s Bill proposing a BC Poverty Reduction Act. That Act, were it to be enacted, would see the government develop a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy, and legislate specific targets and timelines to reduce the breadth and depth of poverty within one [...]
Entries Tagged as 'accountability'
NDP propose BC Poverty Reduction Act
June 2nd, 2011 · Seth Klein · 3 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare
What will it take to bring smarter family policy to BC?
September 27th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Children & youth, Transparency & accountability, Women
Did you know that the BC government has set a goal to reduce early childhood vulnerability to 15% by fiscal year 2015? You can hardly tell by their actions. BC did introduce full-day kindergarten in some communities this fall, but other than that the family policy front has been rather quiet lately. The latest childhood [...]
Tags: accountability·child poverty·childcare·children·families·family policy·poverty·role of government·Women
Lack of water data a cause for public concern
August 19th, 2010 · Ben Parfitt · Comments Off · Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
In our high-speed digital world, there is no excuse for regulators failing to post and update information that is readily available to them and of evident public interest. This is especially true when the fate of vitally important, publicly owned assets such as water hangs in the balance. To have faith that water resources are [...]
Tags: accountability·BC Oil and Gas Commission·oil and gas·water
Quebec Auditor General slams P3s in hospital project
June 11th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · 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
BC opens door to private jails
May 2nd, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · 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 [...]
Corporations are people too
January 31st, 2010 · Blair Redlin · 3 Comments · Electoral reform, Municipalities, Taxes
Advocates of democratic electoral reform are really out of step. Ideas like proportional representation and advertising spending limits are so retro, so 2004. The fashionable electoral reform idea this year is to give corporations a real say. It’s time for individual citizens to share their electoral democracy with corporations to give meaning to those old [...]
Tags: accountability·B.C. government·corporations·democracy·Electoral reform·Municipalities·STV & electoral reform
Loukidelis did good work for government accountability. Now it’s a legislative committee’s turn.
January 24th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · 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 [...]
Tags: accountability·FOI·Loukidelis
The recent secretive, haphazard spending cuts should be repealed
September 23rd, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · 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 [...]
Tags: accountability·budget·children·deficit·role of government·service cuts·Women
Yet another case of our government delaying the release of important data
May 12th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Media, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Less than a week after BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) report raised serious questions about secrecy in government (see Keith’s comments here), The Tyee reporter Andrew MacLeod has uncovered another case of important statistics not being released on time. The culprit this time is the Housing and Social Development Ministry, which typically [...]
