Archive
Debt Free BC
Jul 17, 2014
One can only presume that the promise of a debt-free B.C. was never meant to be taken seriously. Christy Clark’s very cynical, albeit effective election slogan was based on two highly qualified guesstimates of the potential taxes that could be generated in the most optimistic possible circumstances from an industry that does not yet exist. Thus… View Article
Temporary Foreign Worker Program changes – who do they help?
Jul 10, 2014
The Conservative Government’s Minister of Employment and Social Development, Jason Kenney, announced on June 20th 2014 a draft of changes to the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The program has attracted controversy since at least 2006, most recently when the CBC reported that MacDonald’s outlets in Victoria were favouring temporary foreign workers over Canadians… View Article
BC’s new 10 year plan for people with disabilities disappoints. We can do better.
Jun 19, 2014
On June 16 the Premier announced BC’s new 10 year plan, “Accessibility 2014: Making BC the Most Progressive Province in Canada for People with Disabilities by 2024.” The plan is the result of the provincial government’s Disability White Paper Consultation earlier this year. While many participants had a healthy amount of skepticism before, during and… View Article
The disconnect between economic growth and teachers’ wages
Jun 19, 2014
A number of recent articles on the BC teachers’ strike have suggested that teachers could get the wage increases they want to see, as well as the needed investments in reducing class size and improving class composition, if only they supported resource development. Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation summed up the line of… View Article
What are the Net Benefits of Northern Gateway?
Jun 18, 2014
One of the more disheartening features of the political and media commentary on the economic benefits offered by major resource projects is the general failure to properly assess what those benefits in fact are. We are inundated with reports on economic impacts — the amount of investment and jobs a project might generate —… View Article
Will Enbridge’s pipeline ever get built?
Jun 18, 2014
You have to wonder why the Harper government bothered with process at all. It’s like there was never any doubt that Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline would get approved. But historians may look back on this moment as the beginning of the end of pipeline politics. Opposition to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline is BC’s largest social… View Article
A lesbian walks into a Torts class…
Jun 12, 2014
A lesbian walks into a Torts class at Trinity Western University in Langley. Her name is Mary. Even before the discussion of Donoghue v. Stevenson begins, Mary is told to leave because she admits to having engaged in a “sexual expression of intimacy” with her same-sex partner at their home in Surrey. “But we’re married,” she… View Article
Quebec’s Auditor General slams highway public private partnership
Jun 12, 2014
Yesterday Quebec’s Auditor General came out with a report slamming public private partnerships in that province. The special audit was conducted at the request of the Conseil du trésor. It looked at the agreement for the seven service areas on Québec’s highways. The following is a summary of the findings. The analysis conducted to demonstrate… View Article
How to fund improvements in class-size and composition: a matter of political will
Jun 3, 2014
If a compromise is to be reached in the current bargaining between teachers and the government, the long-standing issue of improving class-size and composition must be resolved. The government insists that there is no money to make substantial improvements in this area (notwithstanding multiple court losses telling the province that it must make good on… View Article
Frameworks and photo-ops
May 26, 2014
About a year-and-a-half ago, BC teachers and their employers approved a landmark framework agreement for their upcoming round of contract negotiations. In the wake of a difficult and divisive round of bargaining, and after many, many years of frustration and disappointment, the parties agreed to do things differently. It was the first change to bargaining… View Article
CCPA submission to BC consultation on forest tenures
May 26, 2014
Earlier today, I submitted the following on behalf of the CCPA to Mr Jim Snetsinger, who is leading a consultation on area-based forest tenures on behalf of the BC government (FYI, the deadline for input into this consultation is Friday May 30, and submissions can be made via email to: [email protected]): CCPA Submission to Consultation… View Article
Cheap Power for Jobs (Except it Ain’t Cheap)
May 23, 2014
It has a nice political ring to it — “power for jobs”. That is what Glen Clark wanted to do with the Columbia River Treaty power that was returned to the province in the late 1990’s. And that is what Vaughn Palmer argues B.C. should do today with the hydro power we have or could… View Article
Britain and British Columbia now moving in different directions on P3s. BC taxpayers may be the losers
May 20, 2014
A dozen years ago when Gordon Campbell’s newly elected British Columbia government decided it wanted to build its infrastructure with public private partnerships (P3s) it turned to England for advice. The British model for infrastructure shaped much of what BC did in the ensuing years. Lately, British Columbia and the UK have been going in different… View Article
New AG report on access to welfare disability benefits
May 16, 2014
Yesterday (May 15), BC’s Auditor General released an important new report on access to welfare disability benefits. The report didn’t get much media attention, but it should have. The report, news release and short video summary can be found here. Among the AG’s findings: The government has limited information on how effectively welfare’s PWD (Person… View Article
Clarifying the difference between the minimum and living wage
May 9, 2014
A couple days ago, I submitted the following letter to the editor at the Vancouver Sun. Hopefully they will publish it shortly: Mark Von Schellwitz (opinion piece, May 6) is right that a minimum wage and a living wage are not the same thing. But he seems to be confused about the difference. He claims… View Article
CCPA-BC launches new documentary: The Good Life – The Green Life
May 9, 2014
Happy to announce that the CCPA-BC has released its third documentary film, a video series entitled The Good Life – The Green Life. This project has been about two years in the making, led by our communications director Shannon Daub. I encourage you to visit the special website created for this project: http://goodlifegreenlife.ca/ As you’ll… View Article
Poverty Reduction Act tabled by Opposition in the BC Leg
May 6, 2014
The following news release was issued today by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition: Opposition proposes BC Poverty Reduction and Economic Inclusion Act: Now is the time for bi-partisan collaboration in addressing the root causes of poverty (British Columbia) Today in the BC Legislature, the Official Opposition (MLA Michelle Mungall) introduced a private member’s Bill proposing… View Article
Don’t believe the (LNG) hype
Apr 30, 2014
Today we released a new report, Path to Prosperity? A Closer Look at British Columbia’s Natural Gas Royalties and Proposed LNG Income Tax, about liquefied natural gas (LNG ) development in BC, and the public revenues that might be expected. So far, LNG has lacked a real public debate. On one side, we have the… View Article
New Living Wage Reports Force Us to Look at Child Poverty in the City
Apr 29, 2014
There reports released today show that the costs of supporting a family are rising fast in the three largest urban areas of our province, home to 2/3 of BC’s population. Two parents working full-time must each earn $20.10/hour in Metro Vancouver, $18.93/hour in Greater Victoria and $17.02/hour in the Fraser Valley. The living wage reflects… View Article
Temporary Foreign Worker Program Takes Jobs Away from Canadians
Apr 24, 2014
Yet another report, this time by SFU Public Policy Professor Dominique M. Gross, finds evidence that Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program is bad for domestic workers. The report looks at BC and Alberta specifically and concludes that the expansion of the TFW program between 2007 and 2010 resulted in an increase in unemployment levels by… View Article