Archive
Will 2023 be the year BC farmworkers finally receive basic minimum wage protections?
Jan 26, 2023
The majority of BC households are stressed because of debt and inflation. It’s even worse for one group of farmworkers who, legally, may earn less than minimum wage. While British Columbians rang in the New Year, the provincial government quietly increased the minimum piece rate wage for farmworkers by a pitiful 2.8 per cent—their first… View Article
Counting the Costs and Contradictions of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion
Jan 23, 2023
Canada’s uneasy relationship between climate change and fossil fuel development was illustrated in November 2021 when seven atmospheric rivers hit southern BC. The “big one” starting on Nov. 13 led to massive flooding and landslides that crippled infrastructure and isolated the south coast from the rest of Canada. Among the shutdowns was the Trans Mountain… View Article
Running on Empty
Jan 18, 2023
Closure of Prince George pulp mill all about running out of forest The pending closure of a pulp mill in Prince George and the loss of 300 high-paying jobs in the community is just the beginning of what promises to be a new and painful chapter in the province’s beleaguered forest industry, which has already… View Article
David Eby’s chance to change the game on housing
Jan 12, 2023
With a new premier at the helm, the BC government has an opportunity to shift its housing policy into high gear. One of the most effective approaches the province could take would be to massively increase public investment in non-market housing. Whether Premier Eby, along with new housing minister Ravi Kahlon, seizes this opportunity will… View Article
Swimming against the tide
Dec 7, 2022
The challenge of higher interest rates and high household debt The run-up of interest rates since March, led by the Bank of Canada in a bid to tame inflation, represents a substantial economic shock, one that is now pushing the country towards a recession. The bank’s overnight, or policy, interest rate is now at 4.25… View Article
Severe climate events cost BC economy billions more than reported estimates
Nov 30, 2022
Caroline and Paul Mosterman have seen their share of unusual weather in four-plus decades of farming. But nothing comes remotely close to what they experienced in November 2021 when their Sumas Prairie farm was inundated by floodwater. Because the couple farmed on a floodplain, they had no flood insurance. So, when their farm buildings, blueberry… View Article
Living wage increases highlight urgent need to expand government efforts on housing affordability
Nov 17, 2022
Affordability has long been a concern for residents of Metro Vancouver—a region notorious for stratospheric housing costs—but with inflation shooting up to a 40-year high this year, the cost of living has become a much more pressing worry for many. Sticker shock at ever-rising grocery prices is now an all-too-familiar experience, but as prices soar… View Article
Soft rock and a soft touch
Nov 16, 2022
Trove of FOI documents sheds new light on lax regulation of troubled Site C dam It was the bureaucratic equivalent of waiting for a box of Timbits and a Double-Double at the Tim Hortons’ drive thru. In the space of just hours on a single day in June 2020, the provincial government office in charge… View Article
BC is flush. It’s time for more robust investment in the common good.
Nov 2, 2022
Can BC afford to make major new public investments to address crises in housing, climate change, health care, child care and toxic drugs, among others? The simple answer is yes, can we ever. A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ national office shows that despite dire predictions that the pandemic would be… View Article
A burning question
Oct 19, 2022
BC government needs to say how many trees are falling to wood pellet industry Recently, two respected news organizations aired investigative documentaries showing how trees in BC’s drastically over-cut primary forests are chopped down only to be turned into wood pellets that are burned by the millions of tons to make electricity in the United… View Article
BC private schools to collect $491 million in public funding this year
Sep 21, 2022
Private schools will collect nearly half a billion dollars in public funding from the provincial government during this school year in British Columbia. This is in addition to further public subsidies to private schools—including elite prep schools—in the form of various tax exemptions and credits. Provincial operating subsidies to the private school system will rise… View Article
Five reasons supply matters to the housing crisis
Sep 14, 2022
The housing crisis in BC is a multi-headed beast, requiring an all-hands-on-deck effort to make homes affordable and available to everyone as a human right. Most of my work on housing policy to date has focused on financing a massive expansion of public and non-market housing, using progressive taxes to tamp down on speculation and… View Article
Will Drax’s claim that burning Canadian wood pellets is green go up in smoke?
Aug 30, 2022
OECD investigates UK power company’s sustainability claims as Drax becomes the largest pellet-maker in Canada In April 2021, the United Kingdom’s Drax Group purchased Pinnacle Renewable Energy, becoming the largest wood pellet-maker in British Columbia and Canada. The acquisition gave Drax control of the majority of pellet mills in the province, locking up a vital… View Article
The concerning rise of corporate medicine: Public contracts with private clinics top $393 million over last six years
Aug 26, 2022
Private surgeries and medical imaging are big business in BC. Over the last two decades, this for-profit sector has benefited from increased outsourcing of publicly funded procedures and unlawful patient extra-billing. These private businesses are flourishing in part because the BC government has been awarding them millions of dollars in contracts to provide services while… View Article
Capping oil and gas emissions: Production declines must be central to discussion
Aug 3, 2022
New federal proposals for an emissions cap on the oil and gas industry have begun a difficult and uncomfortable conversation, but one that finally gets to the heart of climate and energy policy in Canada. This post looks at the new proposals and how we got here: the evolution of Canadian climate policy since the… View Article
Reconciliation in action?
Jul 13, 2022
Far from it, says chief of holdout First Nation over deal with province on Site C In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was tasked with informing all Canadians about what happened to Indigenous Peoples in residential schools, defined the word reconciliation as a process of “establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between… View Article
Shortchanging public sector workers is bad for BC
Jun 27, 2022
Public sector workers are in the midst of difficult contract negotiations with the BC government. The workers are reportedly asking for wages to keep up with inflation, but the government hasn’t been willing to come to the table with an offer that reflects the rising cost of living. Public sector workers who have been keeping… View Article
Our recommendations for the 2023 BC budget
Jun 23, 2022
The BC government is holding its annual public consultation on Budget 2023 this June, inviting British Columbians to share their priorities for government investment next year. On June 14, I presented CCPA-BC’s recommendations to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. Via the BC Legislative Assembly website, you can hear my presentation as… View Article
The sound of silence
Jun 21, 2022
Weeks stretch to months, months to years as BC government clamps down on information When debate on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act began last fall Stephanie Cadieux, then Liberal MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, was among many to note how British Columbians are waiting longer and longer to obtain information from government… View Article
Government to investigate deadly landslide
Jun 16, 2022
Months after five killed, experts to determine if failed logging road caused fatal mudslide Seven months after a mudslide killed five people on Highway 99, the provincial Ministry of Forests is launching an investigation into the event, marking the first time that it has indicated that a failed logging road may be behind the tragedy…. View Article