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GATS
How the WTO’s New “Services” Negotiations Threaten Democracy Download 59.02 KB136 pages Despite the breakdown in global trade talks in Seattle in December 1999, negotiations are now underway at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to radically restructure the role of government worldwide–subjecting an ever-greater degree of governmental decision-making to…
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The Well from Hell
Part 2 of a report on how fracking poses risks to BC Hydro’s Peace River Dams Read Part 1 of the report View timeline BC Hydro was so worried that its Peace Canyon dam could be badly damaged if an earthquake was triggered at a nearby natural gas industry disposal…
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WTO services treaty expanding into public services and domestic regulation, areas thought off-limits to international trade agreements
Unknown to most Canadians, senior government officials have just returned from a negotiating session in Geneva to expand the reach of the World Trade Organization’s services agreement into areas usually considered the exclusive prerogative of domestic policy-making. On the table are public services such as education and health care, and…
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The end of Site C? BC Utilities Commission finds “tension cracks” in BC Hydro’s case for the mega dam
The BC Utilities Commission final report on Site C is a bombshell. It now seems very likely we will see the termination of the BC Hydro mega-project by the end of the year. I had anticipated a final report that was more equivocal, which would result in a difficult decision…
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Trade rules create barriers to high quality municipal services
At the just-finished annual meeting in Hamilton of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) delegates were undoubtedly talking about municipal strategies for water protection in the wake of the findings of the Walkerton Inquiry. They should be aware that in seeking to implement the recommendations of Mr. Justice O’Connor to…
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Province of British Columbia / Flickr” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_jan2018_site-c-econ-300×141.jpeg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_jan2018_site-c-econ-1024×480.jpeg 1024w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_jan2018_site-c-econ-768×360.jpeg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_jan2018_site-c-econ.jpeg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />Site C’s economic justifications unconvincing: It’s time we made decisions differently
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…
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Eight reasons the Site C dam is not needed: My testimony to BC Utilities Commission
Last week, I appeared before the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) at their Technical Presentation Session in Vancouver, and gave a brief presentation about my findings relating to the economics of the proposed Site C dam. Here’s what I had to say: Thank you to the Commission for the invitation to…
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Elbows Up Economic Summit
Building a sovereign, sustainable, value-added economy
Donald Trump’s trade war and other attacks on Canadian sovereignty have exposed the vulnerabilities of Canada’s economy, 35 years after our first free trade deal with the U.S. The Elbows Up Economic Summit in Ottawa on September 2025 convened a discussion with 40 progressive economists and policy experts on how…
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BC First Nation logs almost all of its treaty lands, leaving behind lots of stumps and questions
In just three years, much of the McLeod Lake Indian Band’s treaty lands were stripped of their bountiful and exceedingly valuable trees in a surge of logging that included one massive clear-cut that is almost 3,000 hectares in size, or 7.5 times larger than Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The extensive…
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BC Hydro” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_Mar2019_ShakingThePeace-300×141.jpg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_Mar2019_ShakingThePeace-1024×480.jpg 1024w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_Mar2019_ShakingThePeace-768×360.jpg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pn_Mar2019_ShakingThePeace.jpg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />
Shaking the Peace: Fracking-induced earthquakes rattle BC Hydro execs and farmers alike
BC Hydro officials were so alarmed by an earthquake that shook the ground at its sprawling Site C dam construction project in late November, they ordered a halt to all work and got on the phone to British Columbia’s Oil and Gas Commission (OCG). The 4.5 magnitude earthquake was linked…
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BC First Nations are poised to lead the renewable energy transition
These are exciting times in British Columbia for those interested in building sustainable, just and climate-friendly energy systems. The recent change in government could mean a shift away from a corporate agenda driven by the needs of a massively energy-intensive fracking and LNG industry towards one that prioritizes action on…
Province of British Columbia
Province of British Columbia
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