Archive
Under-regulated, under-researched and largely privatized: Assisted living seniors’ care in BC
Jun 17, 2020
COVID-19 has shone a light on serious problems in our seniors’ care system resulting from years of underfunding, privatization and precarious working conditions. These problems are not isolated to long-term care, however. New research published today looks specifically at the state of assisted living here in BC, and concludes a review by the province’s Seniors… View Article
Why has UBC divested from fossil fuels but UVic has not? The high cost of industry influence
Jun 16, 2020
The death and disruption wrought by COVID-19 is calamitous. The bad news is that climate change will be worse. It is easy to forget that 2020 began with Australia burning in a brutal wildfire season. Like the current pandemic, Australia’s disaster was predicted years in advance by ecological science. As we slowly emerge from the… View Article
A wealth tax on the super rich is within reach
Jun 15, 2020
If anything is clear in this pandemic, Canada needs a wealth tax on the super rich to rein in extreme inequality and contribute to crucial public investments in the wake of COVID-19. A wealth tax is economically and technically feasible, but it requires breaking with a status quo that often too narrowly serves Bay Street… View Article
Time to push back against short-term rentals to help balance Vancouver’s rental market
Jun 10, 2020
COVID-19 has decimated tourism and business travel, posing huge costs onto workers in those industries, but a fascinating side effect has been a more balanced rental market for Vancouver’s long-term renters. Asking rents for vacated units in Vancouver fell by 9 per cent in April compared to a year earlier, and 7 per cent drop… View Article
BC Budget Consultation Presentation June 2020
Jun 8, 2020
The BC government is holding its annual public consultation on Budget 2021 this June, inviting British Columbians to share their priorities for government investment next year. BC Budget 2021 will have to tackle the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis—the full extent of which are still largely unknown. It is hard to predict where we as… View Article
CCPA statement on systemic state violence and anti-Black racism
Jun 2, 2020
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is angered and outraged by ongoing police violence and brutality against Black citizens and protestors across the continent. And while much of the current media attention is focused on the United States, these same problems are painfully alive and present across Canada, including in every province where CCPA offices… View Article
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