Doing the math on all-day-K

Sep 8, 2009
Amid the corner-cutting exercise that was the September BC budget, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope: actual money was alloted for the expansion of kindergarten to full day. Could it be that the BC government has finally started to get it and is planning to heed its own report on childcare (as I’ve… View Article

Teeny Budget factoid

Sep 3, 2009
It appears when it comes to the heavy lifting of cutting spending in BC, not all public agencies are equal. The February Budget documents stated that: To ensure that health services are protected in the current economic environment, the Ministry of Health Services and health authorities will be required to achieve efficiencies and administrative savings… View Article

Take Two: BC Budget 2009 September Update (Notes from Marc and Iglika)

Sep 1, 2009
The September BC Budget is a new look at a budget most have come to see as a fake. February’s budget was not passed through the legislature due to the May election, and up to E-Day the government maintained the fiction that it had a small-ish deficit of just under half a billion dollars. Since… View Article

BC’s minimum wage the lowest in Canada

Aug 31, 2009
Tomorrow, September 1, officially marks the day that BC will become the province with the lowest minimum wage in the entire country ($8 per hour). This is because New Brunswick is proceeding with their plans to increase their minimum wage to $8.25. Meanwhile, BC’s government has repeatedly refused to increase the minimum wage here, claiming… View Article

Policy Note named Blog o’ the Week by The Tyee

Aug 28, 2009
We are delighted to have been chosen as Blog of the Week by thetyee.ca: September 1 is the other New Year’s Day: The start of a new school year, and in B.C. a sort-of new government with a new (but sadly old-fashioned) budget. Time to buckle down and get back to work, class. Whether on… View Article

People don’t want cuts in government services: Ipsos-Reid

Aug 28, 2009
An Ipsos-Reid poll of 800 British Columbians indicates people would rather see a deficit than see public services slashed. The poll was conducted in early August for the BC Federation of Labour.  It shows a solid majority of British Columbians disaprove of the way the government is handling the economic downturn.  Only 45% of people… View Article

Is the recent surge in housing sales good news or bad news?

Aug 27, 2009
This morning on the Bill Good Show, where I was discussing the new CCPA budget brief, Bill asked me whether the recent activity in BC’s housing market is a sign of strong consumer confidence and a budding recovery. After all, real estate is still very expensive in our cities (even if less so than last… View Article

Still reckless and unnecessary

Aug 27, 2009
Gary Mason offers this summary of the past eight years in yesterday’s Globe: When B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell came to office in 2001 he unleashed a top-to-bottom review of all government agencies in an effort to bring finances in order. The result wasn’t pretty. It led to protests of all kinds from any number… View Article

Spending cuts will spell further job losses and a longer recession

Aug 27, 2009
Want a recipe to harm the economy and increase hardship for British Columbians in the middle of a recession? It’s easy – all you have to do is cut government spending. Unfortunately, this is exactly where our government seems to be headed judging by their ominous throne speech. A new report by yours truly, released… View Article

The throne speech missed the point

Aug 25, 2009
Today’s throne speech suggests that the BC government has finally recognized the severity of the recession and the hardship it’s causing to families across the province. Unfortunately, when it comes to policy implications or what to do about the recession, the government seems to have it all backwards. Instead of presenting an ambitious stimulus plan… View Article

Reading the entrails of BC’s election

May 13, 2009
Three-peat. Hat trick. The media is full of jubilation for the re-election of the Campbell Liberals. But looking at the numbers, it was actually quite close: the BC Liberals got 45.7% of the popular vote, compared to 42.2% for the NDP. This slim margin validates the Angus Reid polling camp, which came closest on estimating… View Article

Watch out for that train

May 13, 2009
Is it too early to start talking about what happens now the election is over? Because that light at the end of the tunnel really is a train. In their February Budget the Liberals said they were going to have a $500 million deficit this year. Nobody believed them then. Marc Lee called the Budget… View Article

Yet another case of our government delaying the release of important data

May 12, 2009
Less than a week after BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) report raised serious questions about secrecy in government (see Keith’s comments here), The Tyee reporter Andrew MacLeod has uncovered another case of important statistics not being released on time. The culprit this time is the Housing and Social Development Ministry, which typically… View Article

Bike to Work Week and our transportation culture

May 11, 2009
Pouring rain marked the start of Vancouver’s Bike to Work Week (May 11 – 17) this year, but those who braved the weather conditions are being rewarded with a beautiful sunshine for the ride home. Bike to Work Week is an annual event organized by the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, which aims to raise the… View Article

Where’s Our Danny Boy (2)? Mayor of embattled town weighs in on needed forest reforms

May 11, 2009
Few British Columbia communities have been hit as hard by the forest industry crisis as Mackenzie. Some 1,500 jobs, by mayor Stephanie Killam’s estimate, have been lost in the community as sawmills, planer mills and pulp and paper mills closed. With hundreds of good paying mill jobs gone, jobs in related service industries have disappeared… View Article

Planet Before Politics

May 11, 2009
I signed the following open letter published in the Globe on the weekend. I cannot take any credit for organizing or writing the letter (hat tip to Ian Bruce of the David Suzuki Foundation). On the other hand, I can say that I have co-published with David Suzuki! It’s time to put the planet before… View Article

Towards an effective and fair carbon reduction strategy

May 8, 2009
This oped appeared in the Vancouver Sun’s online edition: Towards an effective and fair carbon reduction strategy By George Heyman and Dr. Colin Campbell, May 7, 2009 The latest science on global warming shows we must rapidly slash carbon emissions, or face catastrophic impacts on our civilization by the end of the century. We are… View Article

Report finds government stonewalling on FOI requests

May 8, 2009
BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) released a report yesterday showing secrecy in government is even a bigger problem that we thought. A February report from BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner’s described what he called, “an unacceptable pattern of government-wide failure to respond to access requests in as timely a fashion as it… View Article

Mischief making by oil and gas industry

May 8, 2009
Ben Parfitt and I submitted the following letter to the Vancouver Sun yesterday. Hopefully it will run in the next couple days. Here it is: Letter to the editor Re. “Maintaining momentum in oil and gas,” May 7. The oil and gas industry should stop its political mischief-making, and obfuscating the numbers about the industry’s… View Article

BC government should heed its own report on childcare

May 7, 2009
Do you remember the 2008 Throne Speech in which the provincial government launched a feasibility study on providing full day kindergarten for 5 year-olds and extending full day preschool options to younger children as well? Here’s a refresher: A new Early Childhood Learning Agency will be established. It will assess the feasibility and costs of… View Article