Why my dad and I will vote for health
Oct 15, 2015
As a family physician, the most important way I can help (and not harm) my patients, is to vote for healthcare in this election…. View Article
Tag Archive: service cuts
One year after the BC teachers’ strike, what’s happening for kids with special needs?
Sep 7, 2015
by Seth Klein and Tyson Schoeber It’s been a year since the longest strike in the history of BC’s public school system. A key outcome of that dispute was increased understanding of the phrase “class size and composition.” During the strike, the public came to appreciate that teachers were fighting not just for better wages,… View Article
Christy Clark, George Abbott – meet Jeffrey Moore
Mar 14, 2012
There’s a freight train heading for BC’s education system — and it’s not being driven by government or teachers. This train hit the tracks long before the current collective bargaining dispute. Its operator is an eight-year-old boy from North Vancouver, named Jeffrey Moore. With the support of his family, Jeffrey is driving a human rights… View Article
Vancouver City Budget Woes: Are the Cuts Really Necessary?
Dec 3, 2009
In this round of municipal budgeting, the city of Vancouver finds itself in exactly the same predicament as the federal and provincial governments faced earlier in the year – projected revenues would not be sufficient to meet their rising expenditures. The big difference is that municipal governments are prohibited by law from running a deficit…. View Article
The recent secretive, haphazard spending cuts should be repealed
Sep 23, 2009
Almost daily we wake up to news of yet another important program or initiative whose funding has been cut by the BC government. Literacy initiatives, high school sports, programs that protect women and children from violence, arts and culture: hardly an area of social service provision has been spared. These cuts have been devastating to… View Article
Piecing together the puzzle: help us track BC government cuts
Sep 17, 2009
Since winning the May election, the provincial government has been steadily cutting public services, often without any public announcement. These cuts affect services ranging from the arts to seniors’ care to public schools. They will be particularly hard on the most vulnerable members of our society. In the absence of comprehensive information from the provincial… View Article
And from the department of kicking kittens……
Sep 10, 2009
Vaughn Palmer asked the Finance Minister a question in the Budget lock-up on the day of the Budget speech. How about a list of all those programs you’re going to cut? No can do, Finance Minister Colin Hansen replied. You’ll just have to wait until the Public Accounts are published next year. In the Liberal… 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
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
School funding an election issue at the local level
Apr 30, 2009
It hasn’t particularly reached the level of a provincial election issue, but school funding is quietly percolating along as an issue at the local level. The provincial election overlaps with the time that school boards set their budgets and many of those school boards are making cuts due to lack of funding. A few examples?… View Article