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  • Especially in a Recession

    Private sector couldn’t survive without public spending Many conservative politicians and business executives have denounced rather than acclaimed the government stimulus plans recently launched in the United States and Canada. They charge that, instead of reviving the sick economy, massive additional government spending will be poured down a drain of…

  • Partisan claims and the BC economy

    BC’s recession and election together mean things are going to get nasty in the political realm. Already we seeing plenty of sneering commentary from our esteemed cabinet ministers. Consider this jibe from Colin Hansen, the Minister of Finance, in his annual address to the brethren of Sigma Chi: “I want…

  • The Budget: A Determinant of Health

    I know this budget is supposed to be good news for health, but I want to argue here that the exact opposite is true. We’ve had a lot of budgets like this in B.C., so this one is in keeping with its right wing predecessors. During the 1980s, for example,…

  • Balanced budget legislation is bad public policy

    Who knew BC’s NDP government was into bondage? What else can explain the strange desire to handcuff itself with proposed balanced budget legislation (BBL)? BBL may make for trendy public policy, but it is not good public policy. Balancing the budget is an important goal, however, it is only one…

  • Path of Destruction

    Canadian mining companies on rampage around the world Canada is the world’s leading mining nation. Sixty per cent of all public mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. About half of all mining capital is raised in Canada. Many Canadian mining companies have become notorious for damaging communities…

  • The “fiscal imbalance” and bad ideas for federalism

    Most Canadians, if asked, would probably view the issue of the “fiscal imbalance” as a good cure for insomnia. That’s too bad because it is an issue that could fundamentally reshape what it means to be Canadian. The term “fiscal imbalance” is a loaded one, a pejorative used to imply…

  • October 2008: Prescription for Trouble

    Government’s links to Big Pharma threat to public health Does anyone remember that the Conservative party, just four years ago, promised to implement a national drug plan? During the 2004 election, with health care a top priority for Canadians, the Conservatives made a commitment of $2.8 billion for a federal…

  • October 2008: Horrendous Health and Environmental Toll

    Downstream from the tar sands, people are sick, dying There’s deformed pickerel in Lake Athabasca… Pushed-in faces, bulging eyes, humped back, crooked tails… never used to see that. Great big lumps on them… you poke that, it sprays water… A friend caught a jackfish recently with two lower jaws… He…

  • March 2006: McGuinty’s Shocking Deregulation

    Ontarians being denied right to decide electricity policy The Ontario government is giving away the right of the province’s citizens to make decisions on electricity, the environment, and major social policy. Premier Dalton McGuinty, without a mandate or popular support, is making Ontario part of the U.S. electricity market. If…

  • Make housing the priority for federal “shovel-ready” dollars

    For the first time in a generation, the federal government is poised to become a major partner in social housing development in Canada. This creates real opportunities for housing advocates and providers who, after decades as lone voices in the political wilderness, have ready-made solutions for ending homelessness. The challenge…

  • Call for better construction worker safety in study released on 28th anniversary of tragic Bentall Tower IV accident

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. VANCOUVER – On the 28th anniversary of the deaths of four construction workers on the Bentall Tower IV, the BC Building Trades Council and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a new study calling on the province to significantly improve safety in the construction…

  • Climate Justice Project
    Growing Gap

    Richest 10% create bigger ecological footprint

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. TORONTO – The richest 10 percent of Canadians create a bigger ecological footprint – a whopping 66 percent higher – than the average Canadian household, says a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The study, Size Matters: Canada’s Ecological Footprint, By…