Archive
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
The abysmal economics of LNG
Sep 26, 2016
In the lead up to the last provincial election, British Columbians learned about an economic panacea named LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas. This new industrial sector would take vast amounts of fracked gas pipelined from Northeast BC, and convert it to liquid form for shipment to Asia, where high prices would justify multi-billion dollar investments. BC,… View Article
The New Climate Denialism: Time for an intervention
Sep 22, 2016
For decades, the urgent need for climate action was stymied by what came to be known as “climate denialism” (or its more mild cousin, “climate skepticism”). In an effort to create public confusion and stall political progress, the fossil fuel industry poured tens of millions of dollars into the pockets of foundations, think tanks, lobby… View Article
Previewing Canada’s climate action plan
Sep 21, 2016
It’s been six months since First Ministers unveiled the Vancouver Declaration on Clean Growth and Climate Change. At the time, the Declaration was somewhat of a disappointment: no new national greenhouse gas reduction target, no consensus on carbon pricing, and a parallel push for pipelines (for a review and analysis, see this post). Basically, Ministers agreed to… View Article
Investing in youth aging out of foster care
Sep 20, 2016
It should be enough to know that it is the right thing to do. We should support foster youth in their transition to adulthood—youth for whom we are collectively responsible—in the same way that families support their own children. But we don’t. Over 60% of 20-24 year olds in BC live in their family homes, benefitting not… View Article
An increase so small it keeps minimum wage workers in poverty
Sep 20, 2016
Today, BC’s lowest paid workers get a 40-cent raise. The latest increase of the provincial minimum wage—now $10.85 per hour for most workers isn’t much to celebrate. It works out to an extra $16 per week for someone working full-time – and that doesn’t stretch far in a province with such high cost of living…. 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
The fifth annual Welfare Food Challenge is coming up
Sep 13, 2016
The 2016 Welfare Food Challenge—in which participants spend one week eating only what can be purchased with the money a welfare recipient receives—is coming up on October 16th. The organization behind the challenge, Raise the Rates, calculates the amount participants have to spend on food based on the expectation that welfare recipients will have to pay for rental housing,… View Article
Denham goes to Britain – and takes some BC freedom of information issues with her
Sep 9, 2016
Elizabeth Denham—British Columbia’s former Information and Privacy Commissioner, who aggressively pushed freedom of information and privacy issues here—is now doing a similar job in the United Kingdom. After approval from Queen Elizabeth, Denham was appointed UK Information Commissioner on July 15, 2016 – and in at least one important area she is going further than she… View Article
Potential profits big enough to justify a massive lawsuit: 6 things you should know about the Cambie trial
Sep 8, 2016
The biggest constitutional trial “perhaps ever” in Canada is now in court. The future of our publicly funded health care system is at stake. Putting Canadian Medicare on trial is complex, and vulnerable to the blatantly false and simplistic messaging that increasing “private care” will take the pressure off public wait lists, increase patient choice,… View Article
5 reasons why private surgeries won’t shorten waits in the public system
Sep 7, 2016
After years of delay, Dr. Brian Day’s case against the BC Government is now being heard in BC Supreme Court. Day and his private for-profit Cambie Surgery Centre are challenging the parts of the BC Medicare Protection Act that prevent doctors and private clinics from directly billing patients for medically necessary procedures; in other words,… View Article
Privatizing public infrastructure is enormously costly. Let’s not repeat the mistake.
Sep 1, 2016
An announcement is expected next week on a plan for the long-awaited Victoria wastewater treatment plant, which has been the subject of ongoing controversy about its need and location. But one question has received much less attention: will this roughly billion-dollar piece of infrastructure be publicly owned and controlled, or will it be handed over… View Article
What’s the real story behind BC’s education funding crisis?
Aug 24, 2016
This spring school boards across the province experienced budget crises, raising questions about funding for elementary and high school education in BC (kindergarten through grade 12). Despite provincial government claims that education funding is “at record levels” funding has actually shrunk substantially as a share of BC’s overall economic pie, and fallen almost $1,000 per… View Article
How the so-called “Clean Energy Plan” still wreaks havoc on BC Hydro’s rates
Aug 22, 2016
My wife says I hold on to things too long. Still, when I read BC Hydro’s most recent rate application to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC), I couldn’t help but recall Mark Jaccard’s spirited—if misguided—defence of Premier Gordon Campbell’s Clean Energy Plan in a critique of a paper, Lost in Transmission, that I co-authored in 2007. BC Hydro is seeking approval for… View Article
The BC government’s updated climate (non-)plan: This is not leadership
Aug 19, 2016
Today, after many months of delay (on a Friday afternoon in summer), the BC government finally released an updated “Climate Leadership Plan.” Except it isn’t one. It’s not a plan, it’s not leadership, and it doesn’t get us nearly where we need to go on climate action. I see no notable shift from what I wrote… View Article
Fracking, earthquakes and hydro dams? Don’t worry. We have an understanding.
Aug 17, 2016
This is the second of two posts. Read the first here. Efforts by BC Hydro to ban potentially destructive natural gas company fracking operations in the vicinity of its biggest dams fall well short of what an Alberta hydro provider has achieved, raising questions about why British Columbia isn’t doing more to protect public safety…. View Article
Big dams and a big fracking problem in BC’s energy-rich Peace River Region
Aug 16, 2016
Senior BC Hydro officials have quietly feared for years that earthquakes triggered by natural gas industry fracking operations could damage its Peace River dams, putting hundreds if not thousands of people at risk should the dams fail. Yet the Crown corporation has said nothing publicly about its concerns, opting instead to negotiate behind the scenes with… View Article
The wrong direction: A presentation on the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion
Aug 10, 2016
Presentation to the federal Ministerial Panel holding consultations on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Proposal Presented in Burnaby, August 10, 2016 Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Seth Klein, and I am the BC Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Our office has spent the last eight years hosting the… View Article
Dependence on tips leaves women workers vulnerable to sexual harassment
Aug 8, 2016
Recently tipping in the restaurant industry has been the subject of two national opinion polls, both of which suggest the public is divided on the ingrained social practice that is tipping. In early May, the CBC conducted an online poll asking, “Is it time to end tipping?” Only about 12 percent said No, while over… View Article
Correcting the Fraser Institute’s crude assumptions
Jul 25, 2016
The Fraser Institute’s new report, The Costs of Pipeline Obstructionism, claims that lack of new export pipelines to tidewater is costing Canada $2.02–$6.4 billion dollars per year (depending on the assumed oil price). The authors offer the following table, based on exports via the proposed Energy East pipeline, as evidence (Table 1 from page 10… View Article