Frontpage-feature

True reconciliation in BC requires implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Nov 29, 2018

In the span of a decade, we have moved from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples being largely absent from political and public discourse in BC to being fully endorsed by both the federal and provincial governments. In May 2017, implementation of the UN Declaration was called “foundational” to the Confidence and… View Article

Dangerous precedent: Petronas subsidiary gets free pass after building unlicensed fracking dams

Oct 22, 2018

By Ben Parfitt

In a decision without precedent in its 25 years of existence, British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) has told Progress Energy that two massive unauthorized dams that it built will not have to undergo environmental assessments. The decision comes after the company made an audacious request to the EAO to have the two dams declared… View Article

Housing platforms and platitudes in the 2018 Vancouver election

Oct 11, 2018

By Marc Lee

It should be no surprise that Vancouver’s growing housing affordability crisis is the top issue going into the election. All candidates are in favour of affordable housing, of course. Sorting out the chatter from concrete plans, however, can be difficult—not least because of the way Vancouver’s municipal politics has fractured going into the election, with… View Article

Paved with good intentions: A guide to evolving climate policies in BC

Sep 12, 2018

By Marc Lee

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, an economics professor of mine used to say back in the late 1980s. Concerned about the federal government’s inability to reign in fiscal deficits, hell back then was hitting a “financial wall” where the markets would no longer lend or would only do so at catastrophically… View Article

The Petro State Lackey: How BC’s zest for natural gas fuels Alberta’s oil sands

Aug 8, 2018

By Ben Parfitt

In the past year, an energy dispute for the ages has played out in Canada, culminating in the federal government announcing that it will buy an aging oil pipeline for $4.5 billion and then twin it with a new high-capacity pipeline that would move massive amounts of diluted bitumen from Alberta to tidewater in British… View Article

Threatened caribou further endangered: Suppressed audit shows Oil and Gas Commission undermining provincial efforts to save species

May 28, 2018

By Ben Parfitt

On an April morning in 2014, members of the Fort Nelson First Nation tucked into a helicopter to begin a day of flying to fossil fuel company operations in their territory. The Nation’s lands are part of the expansive Treaty 8 territory that includes northeast British Columbia. A professional biologist from Fort St. John was… View Article

Easy Water: Time bombs, fracking dams and the rush for H2O on private farmlands

Mar 29, 2018

By Ben Parfitt

The number of unlicensed and potentially dangerous dams built in recent years in northeast British Columbia is nearly double what has been reported, according to one of the province’s top water officials. At least 92 unauthorized dams have been built in the region where natural gas industry fracking operations consume more water than just about… View Article

Fresh from the lockup: Highlights of BC’s action-packed budget 2018

Feb 20, 2018

By Iglika Ivanova and Alex Hemingway

BC Budget 2018 includes major new investments in child care, housing and infrastructure combined with significant improvements in tax fairness. This budget—the new provincial government’s first full budget—is a turning point. For too long, BC budgets have prioritized tax cuts and balancing the books over all else—preferring to sweep social, economic and environmental problems under… View Article

Site C’s economic justifications unconvincing: It’s time we made decisions differently

Jan 16, 2018

By Seth Klein

There is no question that the new BC government’s decision to proceed with the Site C dam was a very difficult one. The previous government left them with a poison pill. With $2 billion already spent, the Horgan government faced a no-win choice, with substantial political and economic costs for either terminating or proceeding with… View Article

Small steps on affordable housing: A look at the new federal and Vancouver plans

Jan 10, 2018

By Marc Lee

In November 2017 two important new efforts to address the crisis of affordable housing were delivered a day apart: a National Housing Strategy (NHS) tabled by the federal government; and the City of Vancouver’s Housing Vancouver Strategy (HVS). This piece reviews the details of these plans. Both represent forward progress, but also leave key ingredients… View Article

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A progressive take on BC issues

A progressive take on BC issues

Frontpage-feature

True reconciliation in BC requires implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Dangerous precedent: Petronas subsidiary gets free pass after building unlicensed fracking dams

Housing platforms and platitudes in the 2018 Vancouver election

Paved with good intentions: A guide to evolving climate policies in BC

The Petro State Lackey: How BC’s zest for natural gas fuels Alberta’s oil sands

Threatened caribou further endangered: Suppressed audit shows Oil and Gas Commission undermining provincial efforts to save species

Easy Water: Time bombs, fracking dams and the rush for H2O on private farmlands

Fresh from the lockup: Highlights of BC’s action-packed budget 2018

Site C’s economic justifications unconvincing: It’s time we made decisions differently

Small steps on affordable housing: A look at the new federal and Vancouver plans