With my oped last week on the NDP platform making me less than popular over at NDP HQ, today the Sun published my take on the Liberals’ platform, thereby guaranteeing that the list of Christmas parties I get invited to dwindles to next to nothing. BC’s Economic Challenges and the Liberal Platform By Marc Lee [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Port Mann'
BC’s economy and the Liberal platform
April 29th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · BC Election 2009, Economy, Energy, Provincial budget & finance
Tags: carbon tax·deficit·green infrastructure·greenhouse gas·inequality·Liberals·oil and gas·platform·Port Mann·recession·transportation
BC's Carbon Tax Clash
April 15th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · BC Election 2009, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Taxes
With the BC election campaign now officially on, the carbon tax debate is back. Since the fall’s federal election, when the Prime Minister dropped in to beat up the carbon tax to solidify his support in BC, the carbon tax has dropped off the public radar, replaced by stories about the economic and financial crisis. [...]
Tags: cap-and-trade·carbon footprint·carbon tax·greenhouse gas·oil and gas·Port Mann
Is funnelling money into shovel-ready projects the best strategy for infrastructure development?
March 27th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
I often get asked: “Shouldn’t we support the Olympics or the Port Mann bridge (or any of the multitude of poorly handled infrastructure projects in our province) despite their substantial cost overruns on the grounds that they will create jobs and benefit the economy?” The problem with this question is that it allows for two [...]
Tags: passenger rail·Port Mann·recession·stimulus·transportation
The wrong kind of stimulus
March 13th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Provincial budget & finance
I am a big fan of stimulus packages for our ailing economy. But my pitch has been that we need to use the occasion to retrofit our economy to be on a more sustainable footing. So it matters a great deal on what we spend those stimulus dollars. If we launch projects that take us [...]
Tags: oil and gas·Port Mann·stimulus
Beggar-thy-neighbour politics in Metro Vancouver
March 13th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Municipalities, Taxes
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts made the news this week calling for property-tax-free zones in Surrey to attract new business to her city. Of course, in a climate where businesses are not making new investments, this will at best lure businesses from other parts of Metro Vancouver. Economists call these beggar-thy-neighbour policies because you can only [...]
And Another Thing About the Port Mann non-P3
March 4th, 2009 · Marvin Shaffer · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
Now that the government has abandoned private financing of the Port Mann, it’s time to make the bigger but equally sensible leap and abandon the concept of a cost recovery project toll. I’m all for tolling. Unless you are a fan of the queues inevitably created by what can only be described as our current [...]
Tags: Canada Line·P3·Port Mann·transportation
Cancelled P3 saves $200 million
February 27th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Privatization, P3s & public services
Wow. Things can change pretty quickly in a day. Apparently the Port Mann Bridge P3 was just too ridiculous. Jeff Nagel already has a very interesting article in the Surrey Leader on the cancellation of the public private partnership. He includes the following quote from the Partnerships BC boss Larry Blain. Critics have long said [...]
Tags: P3·Port Mann·transportation
Death of a P3
February 27th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
And so the P3 financing deal for the Port Mann Super-Bridge died, conveniently right when it will get the least media coverage. Here’s the breaking news from the Sun: The province has been unable to reach a finance-arranging deal with the consortium that was to build the new Port Mann Bridge, transportation Minister Kevin Falcon [...]
Tags: P3·Port Mann·transportation
They don't pay taxes in Surrey? Who knew?
February 12th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Privatization, P3s & public services, Taxes
Transportation Minister Keven Falcon had letters to the editor this week in both the Vancouver Sun and the Times Colonist saying, “The new Port Mann Bridge will not cost taxpayers a dime.” He was saying that the bridge will be paid for by tolls but he seems to have forgotten that people who cross the [...]
Tags: P3·Port Mann·transportation
Forensic auditors say P3s expensive, biased and secret
January 29th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Privatization, P3s & public services
So who are you going to believe about public private partnerships (P3s)? One side of the debate says they’re swell. They save money for taxpayers, they come in on budget and they transfer risk from governments to companies. But other people say details are kept secret from the public and that in fact they cost [...]
Tags: Abbotsford Hospital·Canada Line·hospital·P3·Port Mann·privatization·Sea-to-Sky Highway·Vancouver General Hospital
