Search results for “site/Pat Armstrong”

  • A path through the Bush visit

    Beyond the obligatory niceties, next week’s visit by George W. Bush will reveal little about the actual direction of Canada-U.S. relations. But it does provide an occasion to reflect on where we are going and what are our choices. In my view, the most important question facing Canada over the…

  • Public Interest Research Project (BC)

    Government Not Enforcing Health Laws

    The provincial government recently stated that user charges for emergency health care services provided at the new False Creek Urgent Care Centre are legal. Minister of Health George Abbott says he would not have any basis for legal action because the doctors providing urgent care at the clinic are from…

  • Oliver Mudslide, Photo: Darren Kirby - Flickr

    Damming the information flow: BC government officials button lipped on potentially dangerous dams

    Early last spring, provincial civil servants cut off virtually all communication about what the government knew about a sprawling network of potentially dangerous and unregulated dams in northeast BC on the pretext they could not comment because of the impending election. The coordinated effort meant there was virtually no comment…

  • Swamp Donkey Dam, Photo: Vicky Husband

    Easy Water: Time bombs, fracking dams and the rush for H2O on private farmlands

    The number of unlicensed and potentially dangerous dams built in recent years in northeast British Columbia is nearly double what has been reported, according to one of the province’s top water officials. At least 92 unauthorized dams have been built in the region where natural gas industry fracking operations consume…

  • The sound of silence

    Weeks stretch to months, months to years as BC government clamps down on information  When debate on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act began last fall Stephanie Cadieux, then Liberal MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, was among many to note how British Columbians are waiting longer and longer…

  • Comprehensive action on surgical waiting times is good news for BC

    The case for bold, evidence-based action on surgical waiting times—especially for hip and knee replacements that are among the longest in the country—is clear. That is why the BC government’s move to take decisive action to reduce surgical waiting times throughout the province is very good news for all British…

  • An Apple a Day

    We need real health care, not an illness-treatment system A few years ago, one of the Wizard of Oz comic strips showed a doctor standing outside his office glaring across the street at a vendor with a cart full of apples. “Beat it!” yells the doctor. “I’m trying to make…

  • Injured workers with chronic pain: the serious human costs of the WorkSafeBC system

    I have been a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation for over 30 years. A significant portion of my practice involves injured workers who have developed chronic pain and have been denied compensation by WorkSafeBC (WCB). Workers with injuries that heal in weeks or a few months are usually treated…

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    Opening the floodgates

    More than climate crisis behind last November’s rising waters, death and destruction; experts urge province to make course correction   First of Two Parts When Premier John Horgan declared a provincial state of emergency in the wake of last November’s horrific floods, landslides and deaths, he was quick to name the…

  • Paths to Union Renewal

    Canadian Experiences This new book focuses on the efforts and progress of union revialization and organizing, and documents the renewal initiatives undertaken by unions in Canada. Unions, separately or in coalition with other unions or social groups, have begun to re-examine the basis of their organization and activity in the…

  • Canadian workers’ paycheques in 30-year holding pattern : Study

    OTTAWA – Canadians are working harder and smarter, contributing to a growing economy, but their paycheques have been stagnant for the past 30 years, says a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Rising Profit Shares, Falling Wage Shares finds that Canada’s economy grew steadily and workers’…

  • Boondoggles in the Boreal

    Abandoned mines, oil and gas wells pollute our boreal forest A mid-March report — A Forest of Blue: Canada’s Boreal Forest, the World’s Waterkeeper — focuses on the health of our vast northern forest ecosystem, which covers 60% of Canada’s land mass. Issued by the Pew Environment Group (a U.S.…