BC’s new climate plan, Clean BC, is a big and visionary document and was instantly lauded by environmental groups and businesses alike. In this post, I recap the key components of the plan and do a bit of a reality check against the hype, in particular the challenge of fitting…
After 30 years of treaty talks, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings, and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations still face racism on a systemic basis in this province. Can Indigenous People ever find justice in this province? John Price and…
The BC Labour Relations Code is being reviewed for the first time in over 15 years. Since the last comprehensive review, which took place in 2003, workers’ rights under the Code have been continuously eroded. The current review presents an important opportunity to reverse this trend by improving access to…
Algonquins and settler allies block proposed uranium mining A mining exploration company’s government-supported attempt to drill for uranium on First Nations land is finally beginning to create outrage far beyond the quiet corner of Eastern Ontario where it began over a year ago. On February 15, a Kingston judge’s draconian…
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…
One year later Download 5.4 MB “More than an infectious pathogen,” writes Michal Rozworski in his feature analysis for this issue, “the novel coronavirus is a very harsh mirror held up to pre-pandemic reality… It is exposing the true cost of hollowed-out public services, debilitated trade unions, and cross-cutting economic…
No one in the world has had all the answers, and there are bound to be mistakes and missteps. But the chronic lack of preparedness, slow responses and a legacy of austerity has resulted in more suffering in uncertain times. Without adequate investment in public health care now and into…
Scott Lough / Flickr” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PN_may2018_caribou-300×141.jpg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PN_may2018_caribou-1024×480.jpg 1024w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PN_may2018_caribou-768×360.jpg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PN_may2018_caribou.jpg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />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…
VANCOUVER – BC’s Oil and Gas Commission sat on a damaging audit for nearly four years that showed companies that drill and frack for natural gas repeatedly broke rules intended to protect threatened boreal caribou. The document, obtained by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), underscores lax regulatory oversight…
First published in the Winnipeg Free Press January 23, 2018 There was a time when a plan to bury highly radioactive materials 500m from a river that provides drinking water and flows into Lake Winnipeg, would have attracted a fair bit of attention in Manitoba. Maybe even a mild uproar.…
PhotoMavenStock //Shutterstock” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_oct2020_reality-check-childcare-300×133.jpg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_oct2020_reality-check-childcare-768×341.jpg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_oct2020_reality-check-childcare.jpg 900w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />In the early days of the current BC election campaign child care took centre stage when NDP leader John Horgan recommitted his party to fully implement the $10aDay Plan1 if elected on October 24. Public discussion and commentary followed in the media and from other parties. Questions were raised about the…
VANCOUVER—BC’s Oil and Gas Commission withheld a report from the public for four years showing that 900 gas wells could be leaking methane—a finding that highlights why a public inquiry into oil and gas industry fracking operations is needed. The Commission published the December 2013 report on its website on…