Economy

How public services strengthen the economy

Sep 22, 2014
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With teachers and students now going back to school, much of the province seems to be breathing a sigh of relief. But I’m not convinced we’ve made any substantial ground when it comes to understanding the important role education and other public services play towards both social and economic wellbeing in this province. The Premier’s… View Article

The dangers of deregulation extend beyond mining disasters

Aug 22, 2014
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The Mount Polley Mine disaster has raised important questions about the risks and costs of deregulation of the mining industry in BC. I spoke about this issue recently on CBC Vancouver’s Early Edition and CBC Kamloops’ Daybreak (if you missed it, there’s audio here, starts around 1:00:48). As a citizen and as a public interest… View Article

BC’s controversial contract obligations dwarf its debt

Jul 18, 2014
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Most of the discussion around the delivery of British Columbia’s public accounts this week has centred on debt (Marvin Shaffer makes excellent points in the previous post on why debt is not always bad) and on how BC got the money to balance its books. Something else worth looking at, however, is British Columbia’s non-debt… View Article

Debt Free BC

Jul 17, 2014
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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

What are the Net Benefits of Northern Gateway?

Jun 18, 2014
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  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

Cheap Power for Jobs (Except it Ain’t Cheap)

May 23, 2014
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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
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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