COVID-19

British Columbia’s largest raw log exporters make pitch to deregulate

Jun 25, 2020
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Federal government would do well to resist call by Mosaic Forest Management, before opportunities to process wood in province are further compromised British Columbia’s forest industry was in trouble long before anyone had heard the name of the virus now seared into our brains.  Months before COVID-19 appeared, forest companies had curtailed operations in response… View Article

State of Play: COVID-19, carbon and energy

Jun 23, 2020
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2020 has been a year like no other in the political economy of energy and climate change. As the new year broke, wildfires spiked by higher temperatures scorched Australia. In Canada, a different fire took hold as a BC gas pipeline sparked a cross-country Indigenous-led uprising. By mid-March, economies around the world were shutting down… View Article

Under-regulated, under-researched and largely privatized: Assisted living seniors’ care in BC

Jun 17, 2020
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COVID-19 has shone a light on serious problems in our seniors’ care system resulting from years of underfunding, privatization and precarious working conditions. These problems are not isolated to long-term care, however. New research published today looks specifically at the state of assisted living here in BC, and concludes a review by the province’s Seniors… View Article

A wealth tax on the super rich is within reach

Jun 15, 2020
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If anything is clear in this pandemic, Canada needs a wealth tax on the super rich to rein in extreme inequality and contribute to crucial public investments in the wake of COVID-19. A wealth tax is economically and technically feasible, but it requires breaking with a status quo that often too narrowly serves Bay Street… View Article

BC Budget Consultation Presentation June 2020

Jun 8, 2020
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The BC government is holding its annual public consultation on Budget 2021 this June, inviting British Columbians to share their priorities for government investment next year. BC Budget 2021 will have to tackle the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis—the full extent of which are still largely unknown. It is hard to predict where we as… View Article

Think system change for Canada’s low-carbon reboot

May 21, 2020
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There is growing momentum for a low-carbon reboot of our high-carbon economy as we emerge from a pandemic-induced shutdown. Since business-as-usual has been so disrupted, the timing for a major leap has never been better. Earlier this year, the Australian wildfires provided humanity’s latest wake-up call. Many are nervous about what this summer could bring… View Article

Treat intimate partner violence as the pandemic it is

May 20, 2020
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We’ve all heard it a million times during the COVID-19 pandemic: for your own safety, stay home.  To many of us, this is excellent advice. For others—almost all of them women—the combination of long hours at home and new stresses brought on by the pandemic will lead to control and abuse at the hands of… View Article

Reinventing the forestry industry: Made-in-Canada masks and much more

May 12, 2020
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Canada should seize the moment created by COVID-19 to become self-sufficient in making masks and other essential medical items, and look to new and emerging “bioproducts” to meet the need, not oil-based synthetics, say scientists, who have studied the untapped potential of the country’s forests. They are joined in that call by Quesnel mayor Bob… View Article