Month: October 2015

Let’s break down changes in health care spending by age group. You might think that as overall health care spending in BC has gone up, we would see bigger jumps for those over age 65. But this is not the case – indeed, quite the opposite. This figure shows the change in health care spending per… View Article

For many years, BC’s health care system escaped the austerity imposed on other parts of the public sector. No longer. While total dollars allocated to health care are still increasing somewhat, those increases are not sufficient to keep up with cost drivers in the system, leading to a real reduction in health care services. This needs… View Article

Monday’s election results brought a palpable sense of relief to Canadians who had tired of the divisive and nasty politics of the Harper Conservatives, and they point to important lessons for progressives (which we outlined in this previous post). But a majority government is certainly a lost opportunity. A minority outcome would have been far… View Article

By Seth Klein and Shannon Daub It’s only been a few days since Canadians turfed the Harper Conservatives from office. But it feels like a month’s worth of catharsis, in the form of profound relief that after almost ten years of policies harmful to the environment, public services, social cohesion and democracy, the mean man… View Article

As a family physician, the most important way I can help (and not harm) my patients, is to vote for healthcare in this election…. View Article

Andrew Nikiforuk’s new book, Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry, captures like never before how fossil fuel companies must do more and more to coax oil and gas from the ground. And how that each time more effort is made, the social and environmental costs mount…. View Article

We’ve been glad to see child care emerge as a key issue in this federal election, with three major parties (Greens, Liberals and NDP) vying to tackle the problems with the status quo: inadequate spaces, unaffordability and inconsistent quality. We analyzed the party platforms on child care in more detail in a previous post. Now… View Article

By Lynell Anderson and Iglika Ivanova Canada is one of the few advanced countries that doesn’t yet have a national child care system. We invest less in early childhood programs than any of our peer countries and fall far short of meeting the minimum public investment benchmarks recommended by UNICEF and the OECD. There’s no… View Article

David Suzuki recently asserted that we have failed “to imagine a better way” than our current economic paradigm. I agree: We have to start identifying ourselves as citizens, not consumers. Suzuki presents a compelling case that illustrates how letting go of our addiction to an economic model that relies on growth will actually enrich our… View Article

Only “Radical” Next to Parties’ Modest Climate Plans The Leap Manifesto: A Call for Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another was launched by a group of prominent Canadians on September 15. So far, over 25,000 Canadians have added their names to the declaration. In the face of the ho-hum party platforms… View Article