Posts by Keith Reynolds

Keith Reynolds

About Keith Reynolds

Keith Reynolds is the former National Research Representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees. He has done policy work for all three levels of government. His areas of expertise include privatization, P3s, and municipal government and finance. Follow Keith on Twitter

Day of Mourning for killed and injured workers

Apr 25, 2011
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It’s worth remembering that April 28th is the day of mourning for workers who were injured or who have lost their lives as a result of work-related incidents or occupational diseases. Last year 143 BC workers lost their lives.  That’s up from 121 people in 2009 at the height of the recession.  On average, more… View Article

There is no Goldilocks in democracy

Mar 24, 2011
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Oh boy, we’re in for a lot of democracy here in BC this year.  Federal election in May and probably an HST referendum in June.  My money is on an October provincial election if Christy Clark thinks the numbers are right.  Then a vote for councils and school boards in November. And that is just fine… View Article

Reading the tea leaves in a Cabinet shuffle

Mar 15, 2011
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Figuring out what the changes in a Cabinet shuffle mean is a lot like reading tea leaves: you can find just about anything you can imagine. Christy Clark’s first Cabinet announced yesterday is no exception. That being said, there are some things that stand out as pretty strong likelihoods. First of all it looks like… View Article

How flipping equity in P3s boosts profits and ends up with the projects being run from Channel Islands tax havens

Mar 9, 2011
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Just like good stilton cheese, public private partnerships (P3s) were imported to British Columbia from the United Kingdom.  And like good stilton, in the UK P3s are starting to smell. In 2003, as part of its privatization agenda, BC’s government created Partnerships BC as a private company owned by the Ministry of Finance.  Partnerships BC’s… View Article

When everything you ask for isn’t enough – BC business calls for more cuts to labour standards

Feb 24, 2011
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Last November BC’s Labour Minister quietly announced his Ministry was conducting a review of employment standards and the minimum wage.  There has been virtually no news coverage on this.  That’s too bad because the results could be important for BC workers.  The recommendations could offer a blueprint for BC’s new Liberal Premier to be chosen… View Article

Hats off to you, Mr. McKimm

Feb 17, 2011
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In the mountain of material presented with the 2011 BC Budget (OK, much of it was an electronic mountain) there was one remarkable nugget of candor. Each ministry and agency is required to prepare a Service Plan that is published with the Budget.  These were initiated originally to provide more transparency in government work.  Over… View Article

Over a decade, average BC wages fall below Canadian average

Jan 21, 2011
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Every week the government publication BC Stats Infoline publishes a summary of usually pretty interesting things going on in British Columbia.  They have a nice archive of these publications and it can be helpful to go back and look at earlier publications. I looked at January 2001, the last year of the NDP government, and… View Article

Lib leadership contender ill informed or misleading on P3s

Jan 12, 2011
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George Abbott has become the first of the BC Liberal leadership contenders to talk about the use of Public Private Partnerships (P3s) to deliver public facilities and services.  Unfortunately, Abbott’s comments suggest either that he doesn’t understand how these projects are being imposed or he is misleading the interviewer.  The government’s preferred P3 model is… View Article