Archive
LNG Project Agreement – A Risky Business
Jul 8, 2015
The Project Development agreement that the provincial government negotiated with Petronas (Pacific Northwest LNG) and now plans to enshrine in legislation has only one purpose. It is an agreement very clearly designed to prevent this and any future British Columbia government from increasing LNG-specific taxes or changing LNG greenhouse gas regulations in ways that would increase… View Article
Today’s smokey skies are a consequence of inaction on climate change
Jul 6, 2015
I was prompted to write this post by the very unusual fact that, right now, Vancouver skies are smokey from the various wildfires burning in southwest BC. Of course, skies filled with smoke and ash are not uncommon in the summer, but it’s a black day in July when fires are so widespread and so… View Article
Legislative changes likely to reduce further the independence of the Auditor General for Local Government
Jun 29, 2015
Earlier this month British Columbians saw one more chapter unfold in the ongoing saga of the Auditor General for Local Government. The provincial government released the report on the AGLG’s office by a former Deputy Minister Chris Trumpy. Trumpy and his report had been the source of earlier controversy which cost the first AGLG, Basia… View Article
Energy and climate in the Harper decade
Jun 26, 2015
The costs of climate change are piling up, and can no longer be ignored. 2015 is poised to be a landmark year, with a new global treaty on climate to be signed in Paris. In contrast, the Harper decade succeeded in stalling any meaningful climate action. The PM’s record is not just of neglect, but… View Article
Evidence is in: privately funded health care doesn’t reduce wait times
Jun 14, 2015
Current public dialogue is full of questions about what kind of innovation or “revamping” the health system needs. In this context, as a physician, I am compelled to apply principles of evidence-based practice to the public vs. private debate: Will Brian Day’s plan to expand privately funded health care in BC shorten wait lists and… View Article
#BoycottTims? It’s about time.
Jun 9, 2015
Twitter was raging against Tim Hortons last Thursday. According to the Ottawa Sun, for much of the day the hottest trending topic in Canada was #BoycottTims. It’s about time, I thought to myself, these allegations have been in the news for at least a couple of years. Back in 2013, a group of Tims employees… View Article
What California’s Drought Means for BC: Putting Our Coast into Perspective
Jun 3, 2015
Below is a guest post from Erin Daly, a graduate student in Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Erin is doing a practicum at CCPA-BC and has primarily been supporting the Conversation on Climate Justice. What California’s Drought Means for BC: Putting Our Coast into Perspective Erin Daly As a province that imports half of its… View Article
Climate Justice and the Good Life, for Everyone
Jun 2, 2015
In our Climate Justice Project, our research has stressed structural changes and collective action to lower carbon footprints rather than individual behavioural change. The ability of many actors to respond to incentives like a carbon tax is constrained by their circumstances. Suburban households often have no realistic option but to keep driving. Renters have little agency over… View Article
David Hughes responds to BC government and LNG industry
May 28, 2015
Our recent report by David Hughes, A Clear Look at BC LNG, prompted dismissive comments from the BC government and the LNG industry. They argue that David’s numbers about energy security are wrong, and theirs are right. We asked David to respond: Response to Rich Coleman and the BC LNG Alliance criticism of my “Clear Look… View Article
A Clear Look at BC LNG
May 26, 2015
Today we released a major new report, A Clear Look at BC LNG: Energy Security, Environmental Implications and Economic Potential, by geoscientist David Hughes. The report considers the ambition of the LNG enterprise as envisioned by the BC government, and delivers the first assessment of the cumulative impacts on LNG development, and in particular the huge… View Article
Economic Development and the Environment
May 9, 2015
The biggest challenge facing the new NDP government in Alberta, and an NDP government in British Columbia should one be elected in 2017, is finding the right balance between economic development and environmental objectives. There are some who suggest that there is no conflict — there can be jobs and environmental policies effectively prohibiting certain… View Article
BC’s Carbon Emissions on the Rise
May 8, 2015
It was a good story while it lasted. Over the past few years, the BC government and many in the policy community have spun a tale about the remarkable success of BC’s climate action policies, with a big spotlight on the carbon tax as a driver of lower emissions while BC’s economy outperformed the rest… View Article
Why the Metro Vancouver living wage is not enough for single parents and how to fix it
Apr 29, 2015
The living wage calculation is based on the needs of two-parent families with young children, but the idea behind it is that this wage would also support different types of families throughout the life cycle so that young adults are not discouraged from having children and older workers have some extra income as they age. In… View Article
Doubling contribution limit to Tax-Free Savings Accounts exposes true intent of a bad policy
Apr 15, 2015
Last week, federal finance minister Joe Oliver re-affirmed that his government seeks to double the annual limit to Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), from $5,500 to $11,000. This is a terrible idea. When the TFSA was first introduced, the claim at the time was that the policy was intended to support modest income people wanting to… View Article
Balanced Budget Legislation – another zombie policy returns from the dead
Apr 11, 2015
Ah, here we go again – when seeking to assert credibility as sound fiscal managers, governments reach for the tired gimmick of “balanced budget legislation” (BBL). It’s not about good economics. Nor about good public policy. Just crass politics. And now the federal government is once again dangling this useless policy ploy. The CCPA-BC was… View Article
A Conversation on Climate Justice
Apr 9, 2015
In February and March, the Climate Justice Project hosted This Changes BC: A Conversation on Climate Justice. Over four Saturdays, a group of 34 citizens from Metro Vancouver gathered to talk about what climate solutions could look like in their lives and our province. Having worked on these issues for many years now, we had a… View Article
Parents want to reduce their car use, so let’s invest in transit, walking and cycling infrastructure
Apr 2, 2015
There’s a popular belief that parents chauffeur their young children everywhere. And certainly parents have many reasons for preferring cars over other modes of transportation: Children get easily tired. Parents need to pack things like food, diapers, etc. Parents want to keep their children comfortable and safe. Parents have busy and complicated schedules and taking… View Article
Discussing “Just Transition” with Karen Cooling
Mar 30, 2015
In late January, we at the CCPA came out with a paper about “just transition”—an approach that aims to minimize the impact of environmental policies on workers and communities in affected industries—for resource workers. Drawing on extensive interviews with workers in several resource industries, our report informs a strategy to ensure climate action doesn’t worsen… View Article
Fire the Auditor General for Local Government? It’ll cost us
Mar 29, 2015
When BC Community Minister Coralee Oakes fired the Auditor General for Local Government (AGLG) last week the issue that had been in the news was the performance of her office. However, AGLG Basia Ruta has now taken the matter to the courts and the issue there is likely to be the independence of her office. … View Article
Transit referendum: if no vote wins, what is Plan B?
Mar 20, 2015
I got my plebiscite ballot today and of course voted yes. Whatever you think of TransLink management, its governance, the rough and largely undefined edges of the mayor’s plan, and the politically expedient but otherwise not particularly appropriate sales tax source of revenues, the simple fact remains that I and most residents of Greater Vancouver… View Article