Archive
Wishing away child poverty
Apr 3, 2009
This past week, local CTV news ran a series on child poverty called “BC’s Shame”. They’ve posted the series on their website, along with the full interview reporter Mi-Jung Lee had with Premier Campbell about child poverty. The series was very good, but the premier’s comments were disappointing. Premier Campbell spent much of the interview… View Article
A whole lotta waste goin’ on
Apr 3, 2009
Last week, research I completed for the CCPA was released suggesting that in the last five years alone the forest industry in this province has managed to leave 17.5 million cubic metres of usable wood behind at logging operations. Loaded onto logging trucks, you could fill a cross-Canada convoy just about twice with that material…. View Article
Happy April fools day. Welcome TILMA
Apr 1, 2009
As of April 1st, the people elected to run our municipalities and school boards had better think twice before they make a decision that might affect the profits of a corporation. On April 1st the Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between Alberta and British Columbia comes into full force. Its implications are far… View Article
Parts of election gag law unconstitutional
Mar 27, 2009
The Judge adjudicating the case against BC’s election gag law has said that parts of Bill 42 are not constitutional. Justice Cole of the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued an oral decision today saying the third party spending limits during the 60 day period before the election writ was dropped violated Freedom of Association… View Article
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words
Mar 27, 2009
Or twenty thousand as the case may be. The CCPA published a number of major studies in recent years about BC’s unacceptably high levels of poverty and homelessness, as well as provincial welfare policies that contribute to hardship and homelessness. These issues are brought to life in a series of narrated slideshows created for the… View Article
Is the stimulus killing the P3 model?
Mar 27, 2009
While BC has not formally abandoned the P3 model, there is a notable absence of new P3 projects at a time when billions of dollars are being channeled to infrastructure spending. If P3s really provided value for money and brought the benefits of private sector efficiency and innovation to the delivery of public-sector infrastructure, then… View Article
Is funnelling money into shovel-ready projects the best strategy for infrastructure development?
Mar 27, 2009
I often get asked: “Shouldn’t we support the Olympics or the Port Mann bridge (or any of the multitude of poorly handled infrastructure projects in our province) despite their substantial cost overruns on the grounds that they will create jobs and benefit the economy?” The problem with this question is that it allows for two… View Article
BC leads country in rising EI claims
Mar 24, 2009
According to today’s Statscan release, unemployment insurance (EI) claims were up 47% in January 2009 compared to January 2008. This makes BC the leader in Canada when it comes to rising EI claims. I don’t think that was one of the Great Golden Goals. There is a lag in the EI numbers, since the most… View Article
History lessons for Carole Taylor
Mar 22, 2009
Former Finance Minister Carole Taylor was in court last week testifying in a lawsuit arising from damage to Cambie Street merchants from the Canada Line. She was sympathetic to the merchants but, “It was a TransLink project,” she said. “There’s no question the province didn’t have any control over the project.” She admitted that at… View Article
Contracting Out: Enough to make you sick
Mar 21, 2009
There is now an accumulation of evidence, both international and domestic, that contracting out is good — but only if you happen to own shares in MDS, Sodexho, LifeLabs, Compass, Aramark or any number of other piggybackers. Unfortunately, if you are merely a patient, taxpayer and/or hospital worker you are probably getting sicker, paying more… View Article
Statscan spins the recession
Mar 20, 2009
Here is the upbeat take on retail sales from Statistics Canada’s Daily: Retail sales rose 1.9% in January after decreasing 5.2% in December. Sales rose in five of the eight retail sectors, led by a 3.8% increase in the automotive sector. In volume terms, retail sales were up 1.8%. It goes on to report that… View Article
Food as a right of citizenship
Mar 19, 2009
I came across an interesting piece in YES! Magazine about a city in Brazil that took an innovative approach to poverty reduction and practically ended hunger by adopting a food-as-a-right policy. Belo Horizonte, the fourth largest city in Brazil, has a population of 2.5 million people, slightly larger than the Lower Mainland. The city grappled… View Article
Well, now that Alberta is doing it …
Mar 17, 2009
You could say that BC is more than a little sweet on Alberta. We love their individualistic, tax-cutting, tar-sanding grit. Can’t get enough of it. We even signed a silly economic agreement called TILMA (the BC-Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement) so we could be more like them. If Alberta went and ran massive… View Article
BC’s minimum wage soon tied for Canada’s lowest
Mar 15, 2009
On April 15th British Columbia officially wins the race to the bottom. That is the day New Brunswick raises its minimum wage to $8.00 an hour. When that happens New Brunswick, PEI and British Columbia will be tied with the lowest minimum wage in Canada. This three-way tie won’t last for long though. On September… View Article
Social assistance caseload way up
Mar 15, 2009
In our pre-budget Reality Check, we noted that a recession would lead to upwards pressure on social assistance expenditures. The 2009 Budget notes that every 1% increase in the temporary assistance caseload increases expenditures by $3.5 million (and $7 million for the disability caseload). During a major recession it would not be unrealistic to project… View Article
The wrong kind of stimulus
Mar 13, 2009
I am a big fan of stimulus packages for our ailing economy. But my pitch has been that we need to use the occasion to retrofit our economy to be on a more sustainable footing. So it matters a great deal on what we spend those stimulus dollars. If we launch projects that take us… View Article
Beggar-thy-neighbour politics in Metro Vancouver
Mar 13, 2009
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts made the news this week calling for property-tax-free zones in Surrey to attract new business to her city. Of course, in a climate where businesses are not making new investments, this will at best lure businesses from other parts of Metro Vancouver. Economists call these beggar-thy-neighbour policies because you can only… View Article
BC unemployment rate surges to 6.7% (updated)
Mar 13, 2009
The hurt is on. After jumping to 6.1% in January, the ranks of BC’s unemployed swelled by 14,200 in February, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.7%, its highest level in five years. Given that February is the shortest month of the year, one can only imagine how bad things would have gotten had it been… View Article
Following the money in BC communities
Mar 12, 2009
It is one of those publications that few media outlets will report on, and even fewer British Columbians will read, but BC Stats just released the latest version of its Local Area Economic Dependencies, updated based on 2006 census data. This publication basically asks where the income in various BC communities comes from. In many… View Article
Bioenergy – Catching on like a house on fire or set for slow burn?
Mar 11, 2009
As the global economic meltdown and in particular the US housing market collapse continues to savage BC lumber producers, government leaders boldly predict that wood-fired energy – “bioenergy” – will ride to the rescue of a shell-shocked industry and brutalized rural, resource towns dealing with soaring unemployment rates. February’s Speech from the Throne is a… View Article