Frontpage-feature

A paradox in COVID-19 pandemic recovery: Increased precarity of women hotel workers in British Columbia

Jan 24, 2024

By Alice Mũrage, Michelle Travis and Veronique Sioufi

REPORT: While BC’s accommodations and food services sector (AFS) received over a billion dollars in government COVID-19 subsidies, women workers—predominantly racialized and immigrants—either lost their employment or had hours and income significantly reduced…. View Article

Affordability crisis will persist until we get a handle on runaway housing costs

Nov 15, 2023

By Iglika Ivanova and Alex Hemingway

Although inflation has come down from the historic highs recorded in 2022, the cost of living in Metro Vancouver continues to increase rapidly. It now takes an hourly wage of $25.68 in Metro Vancouver for two parents each working full-time to support a family of four. This is the 2023 living wage for Metro Vancouver,… View Article

Raising the bar: Our recommendations for equitable gig work in BC

Nov 2, 2023

By Veronique Sioufi and Iglika Ivanova

Platform companies like Uber, Lyft and Skip the Dishes derive profits at the expense of taxpayers’ contributions and workers’ health and safety. The BC government has a unique opportunity to set high standards for sustainable, responsible platform work and we are pleased to support the government’s deliberations on this issue. Read our 12 recommendations. … View Article

Taxing land wealth for the public good: provincial policy options

Aug 30, 2023

By Alex Hemingway

Property wealth has become a massive source of inequality in BC as home prices and rents have risen dramatically amid a severe housing crisis and shortage. A consequence of high prices has been an explosion of residential real estate wealth now totaling over $2.1 trillion in the province, a stock of wealth that remains only… View Article

That 70s show: The evolution of income inequality in Canada

Jul 13, 2023

By Marc Lee

This brief looks at the evolution of inequality going back to 1976. Drawing on Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey, it reviews changes in the distribution of income by decile (groupings of ten percent of households ranked by income from lowest to highest income), and asks a hypothetical question: what would today’s incomes look like… View Article

Open letter on regulating platform work from BC experts in labour law, policy and economics

Jun 20, 2023

By CCPA and Centre for Future Work

The following is an open letter released today led by the CCPA–BC and the Centre for Future Work. It is signed by 61 leading experts in labour law, policy and economics (signatories listed below). The letter urges the BC government to implement strong measures to ensure that ride-share and food delivery platforms fulfill the same… View Article

Why Canada still needs a wealth tax—and what it could fund

May 9, 2023

By Alex Hemingway

The rise of extreme inequality has provoked growing calls for an annual wealth tax on the super-rich around the world, and Canada is no exception. Backed by a growing body of economic research, proposals for a wealth tax have high levels of support among Canadians across party lines. Yet, an annual wealth tax is nowhere… View Article

Two workers painting an exterior wall of a building, hanging with harnesses.

New survey data shines light on the extent and impacts of precarious employment in BC

Apr 13, 2023

By Iglika Ivanova and Kendra Strauss

The rise of the “gig economy” and on-demand work through online platforms like Uber and Skip the Dishes has ignited public debate about precarious work and what makes a “good job.” We all know that precarious work existed long before Uber and is not limited to the gig economy. But government efforts to develop an… View Article

The extra-long logging haul

Apr 12, 2023

By Ben Parfitt

As forests shrink, drivers work 16-hour days to deliver single loads of logs to BC sawmills When Eugene Wilson started driving a logging truck 24 years ago, he worked out of the Bulkley valley community of Houston three hours west of Prince George. He recalls the trips as if they were yesterday. He’d begin the… View Article

Houston Falling: Super-sized mills lead to super-sized problems for BC forests and workers

Mar 2, 2023