Month: June 2012

It is pretty clear that the government’s ill-conceived Energy Plan is falling apart. The near religious call for self-sufficiency has been moderated (though not sensibly changed) and the legislated requirement for insurance eliminated. The plan to develop run-of-river and wind IPPs for export has been abandoned. The problem of charging major new industrial customers less… View Article

Canada is now facing east and west as it attempts to negotiate trade deals with both Europe and in the Pacific region.  Both of these new deals are being negotiated in secret.  There is no room for the public to know what is being traded away or to express an opinion. Does negotiating a trade… View Article

Well, my paper with John Calvert on BC Hydro certainly touched a nerve with the BC government. In a long piece for the Vancouver Sun, Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman lashes back. It is great to see the BC government engaging on the issues we raise, but Minister Coleman’s lengthy denial suggests to me… View Article

I suppose I should feel guilty, just as I imagine the good citizens of Rio might feel when they complain about the giant Jesus towering over the city, but I just don’t like the windmill at the top of Grouse Mountain. For me, it not only is a manufactured blight on an otherwise stunning landscape,… View Article

Today we released a new Climate Justice Project report, Clean Electricity, Conservation and Climate Justice in BC: Meeting our energy needs in a zero-carbon future, co-authored by John Calvert and myself. The report is central to the vision we have been developing of a zero-carbon BC, with a focus on the need to transition off of fossil… View Article

Yesterday (June 11) the BC government surprised many when it announced a host of welfare policy changes. In all, almost 30 welfare rule adjustments are to be enacted (the full list can be found here). After more than a year as premier, the announcement was billed as “the first pillar of [Premier Clark’s] Families First… View Article

Today the CCPA (national) released a new big picture report by myself and student researcher Amanda Card calling for a Green Industrial Revolution. The report builds on work done for the BC-focused Climate Justice Project, bringing to bear a national analysis of green and not-so-green jobs. We take a close look at GHG emissions and employment by… View Article

So many big changes are happening in the Federal government’s budget bill — Bill C-38 — that some significant issues like the changes to the Federal Contractors Program (FCP) have escaped attention. Part 4 Division 42 of C-38 is very short. It merely says that subsection 42(2) of the Employment Equity Act is replaced by… View Article