Archive
Feds got it right on Prosperity
Nov 8, 2010
The federal government made the right decision in rejecting the Prosperity mine proposal. The project would have had significant adverse environmental effects, and that for some is reason enough to deny approval. But even if one were willing to accept the environmental impacts because of the economic benefits the project would have offered, it is… View Article
Big municipal tax shift a great deal for business
Nov 7, 2010
Municipal spending and municipal taxes are amongst the lowest in Canada. KPMG says businesses in Vancouver have the lowest business taxes amongst 41 cities they studied. So how come the pressure keeps coming to shift property taxes away from business and on to residential taxpayers?… View Article
Every bite counts
Nov 3, 2010
Our latest Climate Justice Project report, Every Bite Counts: Climate Justice and BC’s Food System, has been unleashed on the province. I have to admit that this was one of the most challenging research projects I’ve ever been part of – the food system is complicated, and overlaying climate change and social justice issues added… View Article
Auditor has reservations about the government’s books
Nov 2, 2010
For two years in a row BC’s Auditor General has placed reservations on his report that looks at the Province’s finances as set out in the Public Accounts. This means that the AG disagrees with the way the province is keeping its books on three different issues. He also presents other ideas on what the… View Article
Disappointing Premier’s announcement won’t help the BC economy
Oct 27, 2010
British Columbians who expected to see any meaningful action on the economy tonight were greatly disappointed by Premier Campbell’s address. In a paid television appearance (*update* which we now know cost $240,000), the Premier attempted to set the record straight on HST and claimed to be concerned about the economy and families struggling to get… View Article
Premier picks “can do” guy to sell HST in Cabinet shuffle
Oct 27, 2010
MLA John Les returned from the political wilderness Monday when the Premier appointed him Parliamentary Secretary for HST Information in his Cabinet shuffle. In my mind it was one the most dubious choices in what was a controversial remixing at the top. Earlier, Les had served as Solicitor General until losing his post during an… View Article
Upset about offsets
Oct 26, 2010
A recent story on offsets reported in the Tyee caught my eye. In a nutshell, a residential subdivision development on Denman Island was prevented from going ahead in part because of the magic of carbon offsets. First of all, more conservation by preventing this type of development is a good thing. But in what way… View Article
On average, who knew Wednesday was World Statistics Day?
Oct 22, 2010
I’ll bet I was one of the few people in British Columbia that was a little excited that last Wednesday was set aside to honour statistics. The United Nations General Assembly declared October 20th World Statistics Day. The Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs issued a statement saying: Reliable, timely data are crucial for economic… View Article
Perverse outcomes of the Basi-Virk case
Oct 21, 2010
I — along with a whole lot of other British Columbians — have been stewing away about the abrupt end to the BC Rail trial, and the decision to let David Basi and Bob Virk completely off the hook for $6 million in legal fees. Politics of the matter aside, what really gets me is… View Article
The loss of a kind and powerful person – Sandy Cameron
Oct 19, 2010
We at the CCPA are saddened by the recent death of Sandy Cameron. Sandy was one of the kindest and most thoughtful people I’ve ever met. And he was a powerful person — not in the sense of formal power, but in the sense of inspiring others through his words and actions as an anti-poverty… View Article
Why incentive pay won’t fix education or health care
Oct 14, 2010
It turns out — surprise! — that it’s really hard to measure quality in complex social systems and that employing simplistic quantitative measures can backfire. That’s the take-home message from a recent talk by UC Berkley economist and public policy professor Jesse Rothstein who came to SFU to present his latest research on using standardized… View Article
What do we value more? Good taste or saving young lives?
Oct 9, 2010
Last May there was uproar in the media about an advertising campaign planned by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). The Insurance Corporation was targeting young drivers with a racy campaign to persuade them not to drink and drive. The then Solicitor General Kash Heed put the kibosh on the campaign that had cost… View Article
Sshh. It’s an election.
Oct 7, 2010
This piece, by myself and Heather Whiteside, also appeared in the Vancouver Sun today. It summarizes findings from Election Chill Effect: The Impacts of BC’s New Third Party Advertising Rules on Social Movement Groups, co-published yesterday by the CCPA, BC Civil Liberties Association, and BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. “For groups to be… View Article
Which is more important, lower taxes or a higher minimum wage?
Oct 2, 2010
BC Labour Minister Murray Coell apparently got taken to the woodshed this week after telling a forum at the Union of BC Municipalities that his government was considering raising the minimum wage. The next day he quickly called a press conference on the driveway of a Whistler hotel to “clarify” his remarks. He really just… View Article
We told you so: HST introduction a factor behind GDP drop in July
Oct 1, 2010
Among the concerns about the HST that we at the CCPA have raised was the poor timing of the tax change. From my pre-budget piece last September: If British Columbians respond to the HST by reducing their consumer spending, the timing of the HST introduction may actually slow down the economic recovery, which should be… View Article
New voices in support of a BC poverty reduction plan
Sep 30, 2010
Two important new voices joined the call for a BC poverty reduction plan in the last couple days. First, on Tuesday, BC Provincial Health Officer Perry Kendall released a special report entitled Investing in Prevention. The report received quite a lot of media attention. However, most of the coverage dealt with the common-space issues of… View Article
So what’s a green job, anyway?
Sep 30, 2010
Today CCPA released a new report by myself and Ken Carlaw, an economist at UBC-Okanagan, called Climate Justice, Green Jobs and Sustainable Production in BC. I doubt you’ll see any headlines about it in the major news dailies, but I think it will have a longer-lasting impact as a key economic framing piece for our… View Article
Poverty Reduction: Even Alberta?
Sep 27, 2010
Currently, six provinces have official poverty reduction strategies either in place or (in the case of Manitoba) in development. BC, despite having the highest poverty rates, remains stubbornly in the minority of provinces without a plan (along with Alberta, Saskatchewan and PEI). But now comes news earlier this month that an all-party committee of the… View Article
What will it take to bring smarter family policy to BC?
Sep 27, 2010
Did you know that the BC government has set a goal to reduce early childhood vulnerability to 15% by fiscal year 2015? You can hardly tell by their actions. BC did introduce full-day kindergarten in some communities this fall, but other than that the family policy front has been rather quiet lately. The latest childhood… View Article
Protecting the environment and social justice: you can’t have one without the other
Sep 26, 2010
A couple of weeks ago there was a conference in Vancouver on building a green economy. It was a conference with a difference. Organized by the Columbia Institute, the conference focused on jobs and justice as well as the environment. Roughly 15 unions and 10 environmental organizations came together to talk about meeting environmental challenges… View Article