Archive
Canada’s road to zero carbon emissions full of dangerous distractions
Jun 28, 2021
Net zero is increasingly used regarding emissions reduction targets. But what does it really mean? With the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (Bill C-12) Canada is joining many nations in setting a target of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Unfortunately, this conversation promises to be a dangerous distraction for Canadian policy makers,… View Article
Ottawa’s fixation with trees and climate: What exactly are we planting?
Jun 18, 2021
By two significant measures, last year’s effort to plant 300 million tree seedlings in Canada’s most forest-rich province was a remarkable achievement. Not only was it a record for a single year in British Columbia, but it was achieved in the early throes of the first lockdown associated with the then relatively new COVID-19 pandemic…. View Article
Canada’s Carbon Conundrum and the Difficult Path Forward
Jun 7, 2021
Since the first oil well was drilled in 1859 humans have been on a roll. Global population has increased more than six-fold and energy use per capita has grown more than nine-fold. Accompanying this explosive growth in energy use was unprecedented economic expansion—since 1965 global GDP has grown 6.8-fold and per capita GDP has increased… View Article
Priming the pump
May 26, 2021
Scientist warns cumulative effect of thousands of fracked gas wells means powerful earthquakes ahead for northeast BC Massive amounts of water pumped with brute force into the earth at thousands of fracking operations is priming the pump for potentially deadly earthquakes in British Columbia’s Montney basin, warns a former top scientist with BC’s Oil and… View Article
Out of water?
May 20, 2021
As deadline looms, thousands of BC groundwater users risk losing access to water, but not most water bottling, fracking and mining companies In February 2018, the head of a little-known Surrey-based company asked the BC government for a licence to withdraw 864 cubic metres of water per day from a well drilled deep into the… View Article
Indigenous resurgence in a province like no other
May 18, 2021
After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this province? John Price and Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton, co-authors in the new book… View Article
Nothing ‘liberal’ about colonial policy prior to Confederation
May 14, 2021
After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis in this province. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this province? John Price and Nicholas XEMŦOLTW Claxton, co-authors of… View Article
From the colonial past to the racist present
May 11, 2021
The terms of union and the attempted erasure of Indigenous Peoples After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission action agenda, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this… View Article
Why the hold up on paid sick days? It’s about power.
May 3, 2021
Amid a raging pandemic, how do Canadian workers still not have paid sick days as a basic right of employment? It’s about power. Real paid sick days, as a right of employment, are not rocket science. You tell your boss you’re sick, you stay home, and you get paid as usual. But a majority of… View Article
“Big five” Canadian banks provide big money to fossil fuel industry
Apr 29, 2021
Instead of playing a crucial role to help Canada achieve its Paris Agreement targets, Canada’s “Big Five” banks are actually hindering Canada’s progress on climate change. The Big Five banks—RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC—are among the most powerful corporate entities in Canada, certainly among the largest and most profitable. They‘ve been called a… View Article
Social impact bonds are a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Apr 27, 2021
Earlier this year, Vancouver city council considered a motion encouraging the city to look into the issue of “social impact bonds” (and more broadly “social impact investing”), which is a warm and fuzzy sounding term that actually refers to a type of privatization. I spoke to city council to help demystify the rhetoric around social… View Article
BC Budget 2021: Stay-the-course budget misses the mark on key areas of urgency outside health
Apr 20, 2021
The BC government tabled a surprisingly stay-the-course budget today, making some improvements on the margins but missing the opportunity to shift BC towards a more inclusive and sustainable economy. While it appropriately includes large sums of time-limited spending relating to the pandemic (and indeed BC has led other provinces on pandemic spending), it is scarce… View Article
BC Budget 2021 could be the most important budget in a generation
Apr 15, 2021
BC Budget 2021 will be tabled on April 20th, in the middle of the COVID-19 third wave. It is an opportunity for the new provincial government to not only support people and businesses through this phase of the pandemic—but also to shape a transition to a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable economy. The COVID-19 crisis… View Article
One year later: Canadian billionaire wealth up by $78 billion
Apr 14, 2021
One year into the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended the lives of millions of people in this country, Canadian billionaires have increased their wealth by $78 billion. Data from Forbes’ “real-time billionaires” listing on April 7 compared with a snapshot provided by their annual billionaires report last year shows this massive increase in wealth. Together,… View Article
Burning our way to a new climate?
Apr 7, 2021
As UK’s Drax makes play for BC’s wood pellet mills, questions grow about wood-fired electricity With its six massive 660-megawatt power units, the Drax power station in North Yorkshire is the United Kingdom’s largest thermal electricity plant. When it opened in the mid 1970s, the giant facility burned coal. Today, however, Drax burns something else:… View Article
Basic income panel calls for major reforms to income security in BC
Mar 29, 2021
When the final report of BC’s Basic Income Panel came out in January, the media coverage was largely reduced to a few dismissive headlines that the panel had rejected basic income. Behind the headlines, however, is a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the state of poverty in BC and the large number of existing programs,… View Article
Now is the time for BC to double down on commitment to $10-a-day child care
Mar 18, 2021
A year into the pandemic, there is a near-universal realization across Canada that the recovery must include large-scale public investments to build a quality, affordable child care system. This would enable parents with young children, in particular mothers, to return to work or pursue educational opportunities to support children’s healthy development in the early years… View Article
How to build affordable rental housing in Vancouver
Mar 16, 2021
We are often told that building affordable housing is just too expensive: land prices are too high, construction costs are rising, development fees and labyrinthine bureaucratic processes are stifling projects. There is some truth in each of these explanations, but to really get a major build-out of affordable housing we need to stop relying on… View Article
Rosenbluth Lecture 2021: Peter Victor, Slower by Design, not Disaster
Mar 12, 2021
The Gideon Rosenbluth Memorial Lecture was held virtually in February. The lecture is in honour of Gideon Rosenbluth, who was an esteemed professor of economics at the University of British Columbia and a research associate with the CCPA’s BC Office. As a young person, Peter Victor looked at the now-iconic, then newly minted image of… View Article
Wealth tax would raise far more money than previously thought
Mar 11, 2021
While the lives of millions of working people have been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, the wealth of the richest few has continued to balloon in Canada. A wealth tax on the super rich is an important policy needed to address extreme inequality and help raise revenue for sustained, long-term increases in public investment in… View Article