Archive
Canada cannot have it both ways on climate and fossil fuel expansion
Jan 25, 2017
With great fanfare and a claim that “Canada is back,” Prime Minister Trudeau helped usher in the Paris Agreement on climate change in December 2015. Since then, however, the federal government has pushed to expand fossil fuel production through new bitumen pipelines and LNG terminals. This contradiction points to a loophole in the Paris Agreement,… View Article
Taking stock of BC’s new (affordable?) housing policies
Jan 11, 2017
In 2016, the BC government set out several new actions intended to address housing affordability. But as 2017 begins, Metro Vancouver continues to have a massive problem – in both home ownership affordability and rental markets. This threatens to undermine the region’s long-term prosperity by driving out young people and making it harder to attract… View Article
Trump and Trudeau are gunning to massively privatize infrastructure – and it’s going to cost you
Jan 10, 2017
As with most of Donald Trump’s policy ideas, details are still sparse on his plan for rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. But two main pillars of the plan, outlined during the election campaign, stand out. First, he’s talking a big game – a proposed $1 trillion in infrastructure investment to be “spurred” over 10 years. Second—and… View Article
A bleak jobs picture outside BC’s big cities
Jan 8, 2017
We hear a lot about BC’s strong jobs performance – it’s mentioned in every speech and media appearance by our Premier and members of her government. On the surface, it sounds like a good news story with over 73,000 new jobs created in 2016 while many provinces actually lost jobs. But what the Premier doesn’t… View Article
When LNG plants get a special deal on Hydro rates, who pays?
Dec 20, 2016
It’s always telling to see who in our province is able to win special treatment from the BC government. The BC Utilities Commission is currently reviewing residential BC Hydro rates, something they do periodically. As part of that process, the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC), on behalf of numerous organizations representing low-income British Columbians… View Article
Most and least expensive cities for child care: 4 key takeaways for BC
Dec 15, 2016
A new CCPA report reveals staggering disparities in parents’ experiences with child care across the country. Prices are highest in Toronto and lowest in cities in Quebec where child care is heavily subsidized by the provincial government. Cities in Manitoba and PEI, the other two provinces in Canada that set child care fees and fund… View Article
The crumbling case for two-tiered health care
Dec 15, 2016
Brian Day has put Canadian universal health care on trial in BC Supreme Court, seeking to swing the doors open to privatization by challenging foundational laws that underpin our public health system. Yet ironically, at the same time, the public policy case for privatized health care is increasingly in tatters. As I recently discussed, the… View Article
A critical guide to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
Dec 14, 2016
After working on climate and energy issues intensively for the past nine years, I would love to scream from the rooftops about how Canada now has a real climate framework, and how as a nation we are proudly, if belatedly, walking the talk. Instead, I feel immensely disappointed by last week’s First Ministers’ Meeting on… View Article
Will the BC government continue to ignore its own budget consultation?
Dec 13, 2016
Every fall, BC conducts a month-long budget consultation process and for at least the last three years, the provincial government hasn’t acted on its own report. You have to wonder if they’re actually listening. This is a shame because the process generates a large number of good ideas and policy recommendations, which if implemented would… View Article
Kinder Morgan’s pipeline sales pitch: Too good to be true?
Dec 8, 2016
After the federal approval of Kinder-Morgan’s controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX), Alberta Premier Rachel Notley came to BC to sell the pipeline’s economic benefits. She claims BC will get a $1 billion per year boost in GDP as a result of the pipeline, as well as thousands of jobs in both construction and operations… View Article
BC’s higher-than-expected surplus is a wasted opportunity
Dec 8, 2016
BC is on track to have a massive budget surplus this year according to the November update on provincial finances. At the end of the second quarter of the fiscal year, we’re looking at a surplus of $2.24 billion. This is $300 million more than what the September budget update projected and a staggering $2… View Article
Recap of our 2016 Rosenbluth Lecture with Pierre Fortin
Dec 8, 2016
This year, CCPA-BC’s annual Gideon Rosenbluth Memorial Lecture featured economist Pierre Fortin, who shared lessons from Quebec’s experience with low-fee, publicly funded child care. Professor Fortin spoke about research he conducted with colleagues at the University of Sherbrooke, which found that for every $1 invested in the Quebec child care program, the provincial and federal… View Article
826 reasons Kinder Morgan got a green light for its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
Nov 30, 2016
Despite sustained opposition to Kinder Morgan’s plan to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Cabinet gave it their blessing yesterday. Reaction from the many people, communities and nations opposed to the pipeline was swift. Twenty one municipalities and over 100 First Nations and Tribes have registered their opposition since the… View Article
BC Tax Commission focuses on business and not the rest of us
Nov 23, 2016
This fall we presented recommendations to the provincial government’s “Commission on Tax Competitiveness”, which released its final report today. But the Commission suffered from a basic flaw: an exclusive focus on business taxes. What about how BC’s overall tax system affects the large majority of British Columbians? The Commission’s terms of reference precluded consideration of… View Article
Low-income seniors also victim to affordable housing crisis
Nov 22, 2016
It may be hard to believe, but Statistics Canada data shows that 52 per cent of senior renters (65+) in Metro Vancouver spend 30 per cent or more of their monthly income on rent, and 21 per cent spend half or more. So how are low-income seniors expected to survive? The ratio of rent to… View Article
The biggest source of waste in Canadian health care? The private, for-profit sector
Nov 21, 2016
Brian Day’s legal battle against universal public health care in Canada is now before the BC Supreme Court. Day—along with other would-be profit-makers—are hawking unprecedented privatization as the solution to challenges in Canada’s health care system. But two crucial facts are often missed in debates about public vs. private health care. First, Canada already leaves… View Article
The US election results: Brief thoughts on the unthinkable
Nov 18, 2016
Having watched the US electoral horror show unfolding over several months, I’m trying to stand back from the emotional impact of the outcome, to think of some of the themes for progressive debate and research in politics and communication. What understandings are relevant to the political action that our collective survival now necessitates? First, we… View Article
Lessons from the Trump election for progressives in Canada
Nov 18, 2016
It’s been a little over a week since we were jolted by the profoundly disturbing reality of a Donald Trump US presidency. We’ve all found ourselves in many discussions about how such an abhorrent and blatantly racist and misogynist candidate could have won the most powerful political office in the world, and about how to… View Article
Four planks for a bold and progressive BC jobs agenda
Nov 17, 2016
BC needs a revitalized jobs plan. The provincial government’s narrow focus on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) hasn’t worked. The government hitched BC’s economic wagon to the elusive investment decisions of foreign transnational corporations, and to the ups and downs of international commodity prices, and the hoped-for investment simply didn’t materialize. And for all the talk… View Article
What BC’s energy industry has to do with violence against Indigenous women
Nov 16, 2016
The following post was adapted from the executive summary of Out of sight, out of mind: Gender, indigenous rights, and energy development in British Columbia, Canada. “It’s not a pity story. We’re not looking for sympathy. But the public has to recognize that this is a disaster in the making.” —Norma Pyle, Blueberry River First Nations… View Article