Archive
What you need to know about BC Budget 2014
Feb 18, 2014
Today’s 2014 BC budget contained very little news, as expected. Despite a significantly weaker economic picture for BC than what was projected in the June 2013 Budget Update, there are no new measures to help British Columbian families struggling with economic insecurity in the weak job market. Five years after the recession officially ended, BC… View Article
7 things that should be in this year’s BC Budget
Feb 17, 2014
In the fifth year of a slow and largely jobless economic recovery, the 2014 BC Budget should prioritize measures to set the foundation of a more just and sustainable economy, where prosperity is shared by all citizens. Here are 7 initiatives that will get us there. 1. A comprehensive poverty reduction plan Combating poverty is… View Article
When no news is not good news: what the uneventful BC throne speech means for you
Feb 15, 2014
Last week’s BC throne speech received little media coverage, partly because it fell in the middle of the Olympics and on the same day as the Canadian federal budget, but also because it was rather uneventful, repeating familiar themes and commitments. The absence of significant new announcements in the throne speech is not good news… View Article
Looking Back on the Vancouver-Whistler Winter Games
Feb 6, 2014
British Columbians no doubt feel thankful that the costs, security and other challenges facing the Sochi Winter Olympic Games far surpass what B.C. and Canada faced with the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Games. But the 2010 Games were not without controversy and still raise the question of whether it was all worthwhile. Unfortunately, at least from a… View Article
Corporate rights under serious scrutiny in Europe. Canada fast asleep.
Feb 4, 2014
On Feb. 3rd, I made a presentation in Vancouver to the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade on the proposed Canada/E.U. trade deal (C.E.T.A.). I was there on behalf of CUPE B.C. The Committee, chaired by Alberta Conservative M.P. Rob Merrifield, was in B.C. to review both C.E.T.A. and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (T.P.P.)… View Article
BC’s Big Favour?
Jan 30, 2014
The hype on LNG has grown to staggering proportions. I have not had much time to debunk all of the government’s grotesque exaggerations and outright falsehoods. But Christy Clark’s claim that BC is “doing the world a favour” by exporting LNG to Asia made me write this oped, which got picked up in today’s Vancouver… View Article
Spreading a fossilized view of the tar sands
Jan 24, 2014
It is lamentable that commentator Rex Murphy, who sometimes acts like a resident apologist for the fossil fuel industry, on January 17 devoted his weekly commentary on CBC television’s The National, to undermining rather than encouraging citizens working against massive vested interests, for a habitable planet for future generations. Specifically, Murphy tore into Neil Young’s… View Article
Anti-poverty movement, meet the culture of medicine.
Jan 23, 2014
The evidence for the burden of income inequality on health is plentiful and convincing, with inequity and its health impact both increasing in British Columbia in recent years. Many voices are calling for attention to poverty reduction and a living wage. But what happens when you add doctors into this conversation? Progress and challenges both. Some physicians are at the… View Article
Burning issues for Metro Vancouver
Jan 7, 2014
The front page story of today’s Vancouver Sun takes on Metro Vancouver’s waste incineration facility in Burnaby. The Fraser Valley Regional District has been strongly opposed to a new proposed incinerator planned by Metro, and likewise has expressed its concerns about air quality in regards to the Burnaby facility. Its operating permit is up for… View Article
The wrong question in the wrong forum
Dec 12, 2013
It didn’t take very much time at the joint federal-provincial environmental hearing into Site C, which started this week in Fort St. John, to realize that it is not the best forum to address the central issue underlying BC Hydro’s proposal to develop the $8 to $9 billion hydro project. The central issue is the… View Article
You always learn something when accountants feud
Dec 9, 2013
Every year in BC people who follow government get an early Christmas present in late November, For the better part of a week BC’s Auditor General sits down with the legislature’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to talk about the Auditor General’s reports. This year’s encounter was quieter than some in the past. Former Auditor General… View Article
BC hospital P3 ownership moves to tax haven
Nov 6, 2013
One more of British Columbia’s public private partnerships (P3s) has headed on down the road to ownership in a European tax haven. Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure completed deals last summer to acquire equity and loans for the Kelowna Vernon Hospital. It is also buying out equity and loans on Alberta’s North East Stoney Trail highway… View Article
Annotated Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy
Nov 4, 2013
BC recently signed on to a new Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy, which includes California, Oregon and Washington states. On the surface it seems like the province is recommitting to climate policy, but don’t believe the hype: it was just a few years ago that BC was in negotiations with those same… View Article
What’s the Canada-EU trade deal all about?
Nov 4, 2013
Chances are, you’ve heard about the Canada-EU trade deal. It’s hard to miss, what with the federal government hard at work staging photo-ops and events across the country, promoting the deal as a major win. The official sales pitch focuses on the trade aspects of the deal – lowering or eliminating tariffs between Canada and… View Article
Global carbon budget is a harsh reality check for Canadian investors
Oct 30, 2013
The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should be a wake-up call for Canada. With a development model based on ever more fossil fuel extraction, Canada’s economy and financial markets are on a collision course with the urgent need for global climate action. The IPCC, for the first time, stated an… View Article
My Welfare Food Challenge: Day 7 – The End
Oct 22, 2013
Well, I’ve made it to the end of my week eating only what I could buy for $26. But eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner for seven days is no damn fun. I can’t wait to eat something different and fresh. Did a final weigh-in this morning. I lost 4-5 lbs. this… View Article
LNG: BC’s Quest for a New Staple Industry
Oct 21, 2013
I have a post as part of a new series from the Progressive Economics Forum celebrating 50 years of Mel Watkins’ publication of “A Staple Theory of Economic Growth.” Watkins’ piece follows the insight of Harold Innis to develop an understanding of economic growth uniquely rooted in the Canadian experience. The series begins with an… View Article
My welfare food challenge: Day 6
Oct 21, 2013
I can see now that I’m going to make it to the end of this week (last year, a number of people who took the challenge didn’t make it). With my $26 I was able to purchase sufficient quantity, but not great nutrition. I’ve had no fresh or leafy green veggies, and only one kind… View Article
My welfare challenge: Days 4 and 5
Oct 20, 2013
Fascinating to see all the comments on these blog posts. I want to highlight Dale’s comments in response to my Day 3 post in particular. Some may read these posts and point out that people with a recognized disability (those with PWD status in our welfare system) receive marginally more on welfare (a single person… View Article
My welfare food challenge: Day 3
Oct 18, 2013
It is very boring eating the same food every day – oatmeal, peanut butter sandwich, an apple, soup or pasta. No treats, no variety. My other observation is that living on this budget means you think about food all the time – When can I next eat? How will I make this last? Where will… View Article