Archive
Paid sick leave finally on the agenda: Here’s why it matters
May 27, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that everyone’s health and well-being depends on workers being able to stay home when they are sick. In BC, workers now have a legal right to time off when they are ill—three days for regular illness and unlimited time for COVID-19—but not paid time off. As a result,… View Article
Think system change for Canada’s low-carbon reboot
May 21, 2020
There is growing momentum for a low-carbon reboot of our high-carbon economy as we emerge from a pandemic-induced shutdown. Since business-as-usual has been so disrupted, the timing for a major leap has never been better. Earlier this year, the Australian wildfires provided humanity’s latest wake-up call. Many are nervous about what this summer could bring… View Article
Treat intimate partner violence as the pandemic it is
May 20, 2020
We’ve all heard it a million times during the COVID-19 pandemic: for your own safety, stay home. To many of us, this is excellent advice. For others—almost all of them women—the combination of long hours at home and new stresses brought on by the pandemic will lead to control and abuse at the hands of… View Article
We’re Moving towards a Healthier, More Equitable Society. Don’t Let Progress Stop
May 14, 2020
Heartbreaking stories have emerged from their regular invisibility during the pandemic—hungry children, isolated elders, violence and child abuse, often with poverty or trauma at the root. Injustices experienced by many people in Canada predated the pandemic, and it hurts to witness it. Meanwhile, equitable societies are better for everyone in them. In January, an article in the… View Article
Reinventing the forestry industry: Made-in-Canada masks and much more
May 12, 2020
Canada should seize the moment created by COVID-19 to become self-sufficient in making masks and other essential medical items, and look to new and emerging “bioproducts” to meet the need, not oil-based synthetics, say scientists, who have studied the untapped potential of the country’s forests. They are joined in that call by Quesnel mayor Bob… View Article
Flatten the myth: Don’t fear government debt after COVID-19
May 11, 2020
Myth: Government debt rising from the COVID-19 crisis is a big problem. Reality check: Large-scale public spending to support people and invest in long-term public goods is prudent not only on a human level, but also in economic terms. The size of government debt compared to our economy (our debt-to-GDP ratio) will rise substantially through… View Article
CCPA-BC signs Joint Statement for a Just Recovery
May 7, 2020
Today the CCPA-BC added its support to a joint statement led by the Vancouver Just Recovery Coalition calling on the City of Vancouver to prioritize lessening existing inequalities, respecting Indigenous rights, and tackling the climate emergency in their COVID-19 recovery plans. Read the full statement below. You can endorse this statement here. Joint Statement for… View Article
Working multiple jobs to make ends meet: More common in BC than we might think
May 6, 2020
The devastating toll of COVID-19 in nursing homes across the country has drawn attention to the fact that many workers in long-term care work at multiple facilities because they need more than one job to make a living, and this has directly contributed to the tragedy that is currently unfolding. Unfortunately, long-term care workers aren’t… View Article
Legislated paid sick leave is long overdue
May 4, 2020
Workers in British Columbia without a union collective agreement have no paid sick leave rights under the Employment Standards Act—the provincial legislation that contains the minimum conditions of employment for all workers, such as minimum wage and statutory holidays with pay. On March 23, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government made two… View Article
Dismantling tent cities—why choice matters
Apr 28, 2020
On April 25, 2020 the BC government announced a plan to evacuate tent city communities in Vancouver and Victoria and place residents in temporary accommodations.[2] There have been many calls from community urging the government to recognize that people experiencing homelessness are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 and other health and human rights issues. We commend… View Article
A progressive macroeconomic response to the coronavirus crisis in British Columbia
Apr 27, 2020
While much of the world remains under strict lockdown and we have yet to determine the full extent of the already-unprecedented economic crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, it is not too early to start thinking about the way out of the crisis. So many people have seen their incomes collapse or their jobs… View Article
Comparing provincial economic responses to COVID-19
Apr 23, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital importance of collective responses via governments at all levels. The Canadian context of federalism, with a division of powers between federal and provincial/territorial governments, also highlights key differences in approaches to the pandemic. At its best, federalism is an advantageous arrangement, with the federal government addressing national issues,… View Article
This year’s tree-planting seedlings could end up a huge compost pile
Apr 22, 2020
For British Columbia’s tree-planting industry, COVID-19’s arrival came at the worst of times. This year was to be the industry’s great leap forward, the biggest season on record with more than 300 million seedlings slated to be planted. But while the industry managed to get the provincial government to declare “reforestation” an essential service, it… View Article
Time to end profit-making in seniors’ care
Apr 22, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on serious problems in Canada’s seniors’ care system, as nursing homes quickly became the epicenters of the outbreak. These problems are not only due to the greater vulnerability of seniors to the disease, but also to how care is organized and staffed. In recent weeks, BC’s provincial government… View Article
Who’s left out? COVID-19 & psychiatric detainees
Apr 21, 2020
For weeks, we’ve all been doing our best to follow guidelines about staying home and physical distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But who is left out of those public health protections? What happens when laws or policies impair the ability of people to make their own decisions and protect themselves against the virus?… View Article
Digital equity and community solidarity during and after COVID-19
Apr 21, 2020
As many have noted, COVID-19 is an efficient illuminator of our society’s strengths and weaknesses; its progress accelerates in spaces of inequality and injustice. There is a race among public health agencies at all levels to provide timely, accurate information about COVID-19 that is essential to support physical distancing policies and to maintain quarantine and… View Article
Time to extend financial supports to local governments
Apr 15, 2020
Local governments and regional authorities like TransLink have been missing from federal and provincial economic responses to COVID-19. Local governments are facing collapsing revenues, and unlike federal and provincial governments, they are not allowed to run deficits to cover their operating costs. As a result they are already staring into the abyss of painful austerity… View Article
Excess profits tax needed to prevent profiteering amid COVID-19
Apr 9, 2020
People and businesses all over the country and the world are hurting as large parts of the economy have shut down to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But a subset of businesses will see a spike in profits, including in big tech, e-commerce and logistics, and cleaning products, as well as vendors of scarce… View Article
Food insecurity and hunger during COVID-19
Apr 7, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed holes in our social safety net and significant inequality across BC households. Much of the recent focus has been on workers facing unemployment and renters unable to pay for their housing, with new federal and provincial supports enacted to try to address these needs. In this post I want to… View Article
Taking stock of COVID-19 economic policy measures in BC
Apr 7, 2020
A multitude of measures have been tabled by the provincial and federal governments to prop up workers and an economy reeling from mandated closures of businesses brought about by physical distancing measures. Spring 2020 will be a period economic historians will be writing about for decades to come. Most economists were encouraging significant fiscal and… View Article