Archive
Trapped in the wage gap
May 30, 2024
On June 1, BC’s minimum wage is going up to $17.40 per hour. Despite this welcome pay raise for the 240,000 lowest-paid workers in the province, the minimum wage remains over $3 per hour lower than the lowest living wage in BC ($20.64 in Dawson Creek). In BC’s largest cities, Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria,… View Article
Time to scale up: next steps for non-market housing in BC
May 7, 2024
Despite some positive policy moves, BC is still not meeting the demands of the housing crisis. We need more non-market housing in BC now…. View Article
Bolder moves needed for taxing the rich
May 1, 2024
Even with the 2024 change, the income from buying and selling assets will be taxed less than from working. … View Article
The case for expanding democratic employee ownership in Canada
Apr 29, 2024
Workers lack democratic rights in the corporations and institutions that govern their work lives. As we find ourselves in an era of high inequality the question of ‘why shouldn’t working people be the owners and beneficiaries of the fruits of their labour?’ becomes timely and necessary. Read this research report on what it’d take to make democratic employee ownership a reality in Canada…. View Article
Thanks for a great ride
Apr 26, 2024
Twenty years ago, an insect attack of biblical proportions in British Columbia’s forests became a hot-button topic. Thanks to unusually warm winters (guess why), mountain pine beetles exploded in number in the province’s interior forests killing millions upon millions of lodgepole pine trees. The provincial government responded by approving huge increases in logging so that… View Article
As wood pellet exports to Japan surge, BC’s primary forests feel the strain
Apr 24, 2024
In the land of the rising sun, the light of a setting sun glints so brightly on the shiny metal piping of Renova’s Ishinomaki Hibarino power plant that you have to shield your eyes. Located near the city of Sendai, north of Tokyo, the new thermal electricity plant is one of several in Japan that… View Article
Beyond Recovery: A paradox in COVID-19 pandemic recovery | Panel discussion
Apr 23, 2024
This year, the CCPA–BC Office, in collaboration with SFU Faculty of Health Science researchers and UNITE HERE Local 40, published ‘A paradox in COVID-19 pandemic recovery: Increased precarity of women hotel workers in British Columbia’. A panel discussion held on April 10 featured the report’s authors and hotel industry workers. They explored the report’s findings,… View Article
Why BC needs sectoral bargaining now
Apr 4, 2024
Too many BC workers lack meaningful access to the benefits of collective bargaining and the failure of our labour laws to keep up with the evolving nature of work is a key culprit…. View Article
Time for a new public transit investment plan
Mar 28, 2024
Imagine being able to get from almost anywhere in BC to anywhere else on public transit, as one might in Europe or Asia. Or visitors landing at Vancouver airport and being able to get seamlessly around the province without the need to rent a car. Whether it’s dealing with bumper-to-bumper congestion in Metro Vancouver or… View Article
A return to cuts would be disastrous for BC and its economy
Mar 27, 2024
Under-investment in public services and infrastructure not only hurts BC families, it also hurts our economy. With the BC government projecting deficits in the latest provincial budget, the corporate lobby is trying to raise alarm bells about spending. But a return to the cuts of the past would be disastrous for BC. The provincial BC… View Article
Budget fails to fund enough supports for newcomers to BC
Mar 26, 2024
New immigrants, temporary foreign workers and international students are bearing the brunt of the blame for the housing crisis and strain on public services where the provincial budget is failing to keep up with demand…. View Article
Evaluating BC Budget 2024’s commitments to racial equity
Mar 21, 2024
Poverty reduction is a crucial element to advancing racial equity in BC, but the province’s new targets for reducing overall poverty are insufficiently ambitious and lack the urgency needed to effect meaningful change…. View Article
Leaked data reveals new threat to BC’s old growth forests
Mar 7, 2024
BREAKING: officials in the Ministry of Forests have been working on a map that radically departs from the recommendations of a panel appointed by the provincial government to advise it on how to protect British Columbia’s imperiled old growth forests…. View Article
BC Budget: Big Challenges—Small Steps
Feb 22, 2024
The provincial budget stands up to austerity pressures but falls short on meeting urgent challenges facing the people of BC…. View Article
Vancouver’s go-slow multiplex policy could blow a hole in provincial housing projections
Feb 21, 2024
Vancouver’s go-slow multiplex policy could blow a hole in provincial housing projections. If the city doesn’t fix the policy, it will reduce the estimated benefits from BC’s housing legislation by 30,000+ homes…. View Article
Connecting BC: A 10-year vision for public transit throughout BC
Feb 16, 2024
Let’s not keep BC riders waiting. It’s time to invest in the transit British Columbians deserve…. View Article
Getting to Net-Zero in Canada: Summary
Feb 8, 2024
Scale of the problem, government projections and daunting challenges The urgency of mitigating climate change through significant emission reductions is globally recognized—most recently with the call to transition away from fossil fuels at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28). Canada has long accepted this challenge: its latest pledge… View Article
New labour legislation to continue gig worker precarity
Feb 1, 2024
Gig work is widely recognized as having all of the characteristics of precarious employment: typically temporary, part-time or casual, low paid, lacking in predictable work hours and job security without health and welfare benefits and protections. Research into precarious gig work in BC has revealed that app-based ride-hail and food delivery gig workers are predominantly… View Article
Knives out for Clean BC
Jan 25, 2024
It’s taken sixteen years of incremental policy change in BC but you might have noticed that climate policies are starting to take hold. Electric vehicles are widespread, new building standards with much higher energy efficiency are being introduced and heat pump sales have surged as people replace home heating equipment. Nonetheless, the long knives are… View Article
A paradox in COVID-19 pandemic recovery: Increased precarity of women hotel workers in British Columbia
Jan 24, 2024
REPORT: While BC’s accommodations and food services sector (AFS) received over a billion dollars in government COVID-19 subsidies, women workers—predominantly racialized and immigrants—either lost their employment or had hours and income significantly reduced…. View Article