Search results for “site/GATS”

  • Will the “Jobs Plan” just add to the government trust deficit?

    There has been some very good analysis written about the details of this week’s roll out of the BC Liberal government’s “Jobs Plan.” A number of pieces are on this site. Marc Lee and Iglika Ivanova had an excellent column in the Sun. Instead of commenting on the policy thrust,…

  • BC Hydro Review

    If it were true that BC Hydro could effectively plan and operate its system with 20% fewer workers, as the government panel has recently suggested in its Review of BC Hydro, one would have to assume that the BC Hydro Executive and Board, as well as the BC Utilities Commission, have…

  • BC missing out on greener, more sustainable jobs for forest industry, report finds

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. VANCOUVER – Despite having the richest forest resources in Canada, BC lags well behind other provinces in generating jobs making higher-value wood products, and is at increased risk of losing further ground as it exports more raw logs and low-value wood products to China. However,…

  • Public consultation down the drain as government comes to fracking industry’s aid

    It has been a year since word began to percolate in the Hudson’s Hope area that Talisman Energy Inc. was eying the Williston Reservoir a short distance east of town as a long-term source of water for use in developing its gas resources. Yet in the intervening months – months…

  • Decarbonizing BC homes and the price of gas

    Our climate justice framework for BC is to eliminate fossil fuels by 2040. In the household sector, this poses a significant challenge, not so much in terms of technology and knowledge, but because natural gas is much cheaper than electricity per unit of energy. Even though BC has among the…

  • Future government contract costs jump 50% in one year

    Although it has received some coverage in the media it is worth noting the eye-popping jump in the cost of long term contracts signed by the BC government in the last year. These contracts don’t go on the books as debt, but just like debt we will be responsible for…

  • The Proposed EU-Canada Trade Agreement Raises Health Concerns in Both Canada and European Union

    Download 98.47 KB 10 pages The European Union (EU) and Canada are currently negotiating a new Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) (European Commission 2011). In early 2010, the negotiating text was leaked and posted to the Trade Justice Network website, raising a variety of red flags for European member…

  • Fast Facts: Sustainable health care begins with the social determinants of health

    It’s time to get it right On May 13, 2011 the Conference Board of Canada announced the formation of the Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care (CASHC) to “provide Canadian business leaders and policy makers with insightful, forward-looking, quantitative analysis of the sustainability of the Canadian health-care system and all…

  • About Fracking Time: BC’s Independent MLAs Call on Premier to Investigate Hydraulic Fracturing

    As British Columbia Premier Christy Clark makes her debut in the provincial legislature this coming week, the media spotlight will likely be on the predictable verbal sparring between her and Adrian Dix, the NDP’s recently minted leader, over Clark’s alleged “fix” of the Harmonized Sales Tax. Meaning that Independent MLAs…

  • On the Forest Fire Front Line: One Ecologist’s Take on What it Will Take to Safeguard Communities

    With one of the colder springs on record, many British Columbians quite naturally yearn for a good stretch of warm, dry weather. But for many people in the province, prolonged periods of hotter and drier weather are often far from welcome. That’s because when things get hot and dry they…

  • Lessons for Ottawa from Victoria, Lessons for Victoria from Ottawa

    Many Canadians have expressed fear about what our new national government, a majority elected by a 39% minority, will do now that it has four years of real power.  For those concerned Canadians, British Columbia offers a lesson. BC’s government has discovered from an independent study that their HST is…

  • The Middle East Revolution (Part III)

    The Empire strikes back: Libya attacked by the U.S. and NATO No sooner had the popular revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia overthrown corrupt and repressive U.S.-backed dictatorships than Washington and NATO (led by a Canadian general) attacked Libya on March 19 with jet fighters and hundreds of missiles and bombs.…