What do recent changes to the Employment Standards Act mean for BC workers?

Mar 26, 2020
The current COVID-19 pandemic and responses to it have shone a light on the depth and breadth of precarious labour in BC, across Canada, and internationally. For many workers, the variety of restrictions and responses imposed, while integral to an effective response to the pandemic, have placed already precarious employment in further jeopardy. Many workers… View Article

Bailout for people and communities, not oil and gas industry

Mar 26, 2020
Canada is in an economic tailspin due to the COVID-19 pandemic, echoing the worst months of the Great Depression. Yet while millions of Canadians need support to pay for basic necessities, a powerful group of oil company CEOs and lobbyists has insisted on a multi-billion dollar handout from the federal government, to be released any… View Article

A closer look at the BC COVID-19 Action Plan

Mar 24, 2020
Less than two weeks have passed since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and the fast-spreading virus has already led to large-scale economic disruptions and layoffs. Hundreds of thousands of workers, families, businesses and non-profits across Canada are reeling from the tremendous pressures on their lives and finances as a result. It was… View Article

Time to #CancelRent and defer mortgage payments

Mar 24, 2020
UPDATE On March 25, the BC government announced a suite of measures to protect renters during the COVID-19 crisis, including a ban on new and active evictions, prohibiting rent increases, and providing a supplement of up to $500 to help cover the cost of rent for those who are losing income due to the crisis…. View Article

What should be next for BC workers and families after the initial federal COVID-19 relief package?

Mar 19, 2020
The federal government’s newly announced COVID-19 economic relief measures are a good start to aiding people and businesses whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the ongoing public health crisis. It was crucial for the federal government to act fast and provide reassurance to Canadians that help is on the way and more is coming, with… View Article

Bold action in an extraordinary time

Mar 19, 2020
The coronavirus has brought about a global public health and economic crisis with breathtaking speed. In Canada we are entering a time of emergency on a scale that is difficult to fully comprehend or anticipate. The pandemic has quickly exposed the gaping holes in our social safety net—particularly with respect to work and income security—and… View Article

Time for a forest reserve

Mar 9, 2020
Almost inevitably, when someone suggests that logging of privately-owned lands should be subject to tougher regulations, there is an outcry from landowners. It is “their” land after all. But this ignores important historical realities in British Columbia—realities that are hopefully being considered in a current review by the provincial government.  Up until 2003, a much… View Article

Blockades aren’t the crisis. It’s the crumbling legitimacy of Canada’s democracy

Mar 5, 2020
Our democratic institutions are in crisis. Their very legitimacy is in question, and Canada’s national leaders appear ill-equipped to respond. The Indigenous re-occupation of Wet’suwet’en land and nationwide actions in support have sparked debate and deliberation about the causes, consequences, complications and solutions. The debate has been emotional and traumatic and, I fear, is defining… View Article

Managed wind-down of BC’s fossil fuel industries: A just transition to a green economy

Mar 4, 2020
Imagine it’s 2025 and because of the escalating climate crisis, governments in Asia have declared ambitious new climate action plans and an aggressive transition off natural gas. BC’s fossil fuel exports would soon dry up, workers would be laid off and local communities would lose public- and private-sector jobs. This type of scenario needs to… View Article