Month: December 2010
Olympics – ‘Rousing Financial Success’?
Dec 19, 2010
Though not a true believer myself, I can think of a number of positive impacts from the 2010 Olympics. There was, without question, a community spirit seldom if ever seen in Vancouver. There was a renewed commitment to excellence in sport. However, one thing I couldn’t imagine anyone suggesting is that it was a “rousing… View Article
Missing the Vote: Democratic Reform in BC
Dec 16, 2010
I’ve long thought that we should lower the voting age to 16, so thanks to Mike deJong for raising it in the BC Liberal leadership campaign. I speak from some experience, as I voted shortly after I turned 17 in the Ontario provincial election. I was a frosh in residence at Western and no one… View Article
UNICEF shames Canada for inequality among children
Dec 16, 2010
In an earlier blog Shannon Daub reported on Mark Milke’s assertion that inequality was a lot of humbug. UNICEF has published a report that shows that it is children who bear the burden of inequality and that children are not to blame for it. When many of us think about UNICEF we think of an… View Article
How fossils fuel campaigns
Dec 15, 2010
Kevin Falcon’s tour of northeast BC, heart of the province’s oil and gas industry, and his dissin’ of BC’s (modest but important) climate measures was one of those moments when one realizes that things could actually get a lot worse in BC politics. Falcon cut his cabinet teeth as minister for deregulation, and is positioning… View Article
Opportunity will solve poverty, we can all get stinking rich if we work hard enough, and my pet unicorn is real
Dec 14, 2010
Mark Milke argues in today’s Vancouver Sun that massive and growing inequality is not a serious problem. In his mind, anyone concerned about the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us must simply suffer from a bad case of envy. It is unfortunate that the Sun chose to run this piece the… View Article
Something for the toolbox
Dec 12, 2010
CCPA Research Associate Marvin Shaffer has written a book that deserves to be in the toolbox of people questioning decisions around government projects. The title of the book – Multiple Account Benefit-Cost Analysis: A practical Guide for the Systematic Evaluation of Project and Policy Alternatives – won’t have it jumping off the shelves in time for… View Article
Global Pathology
Dec 10, 2010
[Note: I will be giving a presentation on this subject this Sunday, December 12th, from 12:30 to 1:30 at the Unitarian Church (Hewett Hall), 49th and Oak, Vancouver] ———- Johann Goethe wrote: “Viewed from the height of reason, all life looks like some malignant disease and the world like a madhouse.” His view may seem… View Article
What’s Canada’s Carbon Debt?
Dec 10, 2010
Martin Khor, of the South Centre, has done an interesting analysis for the (doomed) Cancun negotiations on climate change. The talks have broken down on north-south lines, with southern countries wanting to keep the Kyoto framework that puts the onus on northern (advanced, industrialized) countries to reduce emissions and give carbon space to southern countries… View Article
The Vision Thing
Dec 6, 2010
For many years now, the year 2010 has had an almost mythic quality to it. More than just a decade-ending round number (we never collectively named that decade; I like “the naughties” myself), it had deep meaning for BC because THEY WERE COMING. The Olympics. Vancouver 2010. In the early days, utopian olympianism ruled the… View Article
Reduction in unionization helped break the economy
Dec 5, 2010
Do unions have any role in today’s society? Right wing organizations like the Fraser Institute say no but a report from an unlikely source suggests otherwise. The International Monetary Fund, no left wing organization, has published a paper suggesting the decline of unionization is one of the causes of the financial crisis and an increase… View Article