Poverty, inequality & welfare

Shining an international light on women’s human rights in BC

Oct 24, 2016
The international spotlight is about to shine on Canada’s track record on women’s human rights and BC may get caught in the glare. Provincial and federal compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is set to be reviewed on October 25th by the expert UN Committee tasked with… View Article

Working poverty on the rise in Metro Vancouver

Oct 18, 2016
Thanks to the Labour movement, we’ve made significant gains in working conditions over the years. On average, unionized employees make higher wages than non-unionized employees, and are more likely to receive health benefits and to have pension plans. But for those people working at or minimally above the minimum wage, whether they are unionized employees… View Article

Independence or a bit more income: British Columbians with disabilities are forced to choose

Sep 27, 2016
On September 1st, British Columbians on disability assistance saw their monthly rates go up for the first time in nine years. Unfortunately, the BC government bundled a significant clawback in transportation benefits with the rate increase, making it a lot less generous as a result. While the provincial government increased financial support for people with… View Article

Rising housing prices fuel the growing gap

Sep 19, 2016
Vancouver is now a “city of millionaires”, according to Environics’ 2016 Wealthscapes report: In B.C., the red-hot real estate market fueled a rise in average net worth, producing Canada’s first “city of millionaires”: Vancouver. In 2015, the average net worth of Vancouver households hit $1,036,202 – an impressive 7.1 percent increase over the previous year. You are forgiven if… View Article

BC needs to get to work on working poverty

Jun 29, 2016
Over 100,000 working-age people in Metro Vancouver were working but stuck below the poverty line in 2012, not counting students and young adults living at home with their parents. This is the striking finding of my new report, co-published by the CCPA, the United Way of the Lower Mainland and the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition…. View Article

Yes, a $15 minimum wage makes economic sense for BC

Jun 28, 2016
I was excited to see one of the two main political parties in BC — the BC NDP — promise to raise the minimum wage to $15 if elected next spring. This puts the idea of a $15 minimum wage squarely on the political agenda. I’ve long argued for the need to significantly increase BC’s poverty-level minimum wage… View Article

Affordable housing and its discontents

May 19, 2016
The public and media response to my new study on affordable housing  exceeded expectations. I anticipated some really strong pushback against my proposals, because they’re pretty radical in today’s context where private sector development is taken for granted, and global capital flows into local real estate go largely unquestioned. By and large, the report was covered… View Article

How to make the Metro Vancouver living wage work for single parents

Apr 27, 2016
The living wage is designed to reflect the real costs of raising a family in a particular community. It’s based on a two-parent families with young children because most Canadian children live in two-parent families, but the goal is for the living wage to also meet the needs of different types of families throughout their life cycle, including single-parent families…. View Article