Archive
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
Anticlimactic and anti-climate: BC’s oil and gas royalty review
Jun 13, 2022
The BC government’s recently completed review of its royalty regime for oil and gas is both anticlimactic and anti-climate. After many months of public engagement—including an independent review, discussion paper, hundreds of public submissions, and a “what we heard” report—the public release is surprisingly brief and the regime remains steadfastly committed to growing oil and… View Article
The rising cost of living in BC: What’s going on and how should we respond?
Jun 9, 2022
The cost of living is going up and is putting strains on household finances. BC’s headline inflation rate hit 6.7% in April, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Most of the policy response to rising inflation has emphasized the Bank of Canada raising interest rates to cool down the economy. However, much of the… View Article
Opening the floodgates
Jun 1, 2022
More than climate crisis behind last November’s rising waters, death and destruction; experts urge province to make course correction First of Two Parts When Premier John Horgan declared a provincial state of emergency in the wake of last November’s horrific floods, landslides and deaths, he was quick to name the culprit. The “never seen before”… View Article
A deadly wake-up call
Jun 1, 2022
In aftermath of a landslide that killed five, experts say government must act now to avoid more “preventable” deaths Second of Two Parts (read the first) As 2021 drew to a close, Premier John Horgan said many British Columbians would remember it “as the year that climate change arrived on our doorsteps.” Whether it was… View Article
The need for affordable child care
May 20, 2022
Canada is at a game changing moment when it comes to child care. Historic federal funding agreements with provinces and territories now support a vision for high-quality, accessible child care across the country. Affordability is a top priority, with governments committing significant funds to reduce average child care fees by 50 per cent by the… View Article
A win for BC workers: single-step union certification
May 4, 2022
The BC government recently introduced legislation that allows a majority of workers in a workplace to organize a union a little more easily, making it harder for employers to intimidate and interfere in organizing drives. That’s good news both for working people and for the quality of our democracy. Single-step certification simply means that if… View Article
Health care spending falls short in 2022 federal budget
Apr 26, 2022
Marjorie Cohen will deliver the CCPA–BC’s 2022 Gideon Rosenbluth Memorial Lecture on September 14, 2022 at 4:00pm PT. This free lecture will be held on zoom, you can register online here. A consistent theme in the media, when writing about health care in Canada, is to use disparaging adjectives, such as ‘dilapidated,’ ‘ramshackled,’ ‘exhausted.’ They… View Article
Financing public housing: how a massive expansion of rental homes can literally pay for itself
Apr 21, 2022
In the face of a mounting housing crisis, what if BC could massively increase public investment in below-market rental housing—and if that upfront investment could literally pay for itself, with no increase to taxpayer-supported debt? While this might sound too good to be true, it simply follows from the basic logic of rental housing development…. View Article
Employment rights justice denied to thousands of BC Workers
Apr 14, 2022
For decades, the BC Employment Standards Branch has not effectively enforced the Employment Standards Act, meaning thousands of workers are denied their legal rights, a new report that we co-wrote with the BC Employment Standards Coalition shows. Complaints take between 18 months to three years to resolve; the Branch doesn’t proactively investigate employers, industries and… View Article
The last of the green gold: With the best trees gone and revenues plummeting, what’s next?
Apr 14, 2022
Last year, as hundreds of protesters were arrested at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island for trying to stop logging of old-growth forests, the BC government raked in more money from companies doing such logging than at perhaps any point in history. In total, it collected more than $1.8 billion dollars in stumpage fees—a number that… View Article
BC needs a public intercity transportation service
Apr 11, 2022
Northern British Columbia is a vast, rugged, mostly mountainous area roughly the size of France. In winter, its two-lane public highways often get hit with snow and ice storms, making travel hazardous and sometimes impossible for the 280,000 or so people who live and work in the region. But these are not the only storms… View Article
The Revolving Door: Troubling questions raised as BC’s chief forester prepares to work for global wood pellet giant, Drax
Apr 6, 2022
At mid-afternoon on Monday (April 4), senior staff at British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests were told that one of their highest-ranking members—the province’s chief forester, Diane Nicholls—was entering the revolving door that would sweep her seamlessly out of government employ and into the industry her ministry regulates. “Diane is leaving us to further her work… View Article
Freedom of information review: how to fix a broken system
Mar 29, 2022
A lot of people don’t trust their governments these days. One of the things that undermines trust in government is when people don’t think government is being transparent. What is the government doing and how is it making its decisions? That is where Freedom of Information (FOI) can come in. When FOI works, it lets… View Article
Over a barrel: The case for a windfall profits tax to address surging gasoline prices
Mar 17, 2022
Do you support a windfall profits tax on oil and gas corporations? Let us know at the bottom of this article and sign up to receive e-mail updates! The recent surge in oil prices has caused pain at the pumps for many working people, further stoked inflation in the economy, and led to a rash… View Article
Jobs and forests up in smoke: Coalition calls for investigation into wood pellet juggernaut Drax
Mar 14, 2022
At 944,000 square kilometres in area, British Columbia is nearly four times larger than the United Kingdom. But what the latter lacks in size it compensates for in reach, a reach that extends deep into the old-growth forests of Canada’s westernmost province. To appreciate that reach it helps to consider the tremendous loss of forests… View Article