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Search results for: “site/Pat Armstrong”

  • Flooded road

    Government must do more than shuffle chairs to solve BC’s water woes

    British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests was always a poor choice to manage the province’s water resources—and it showed. So it was fitting in October that the government decided after years of being urged to do so to transfer that power to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. But…

  • Big ideas on the supply side of housing affordability

    The final report of the Canada-British Columbia Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability, published in June 2021, contains 23 recommendations made primarily to the BC and federal governments. The Panel organized these under five broad calls to action:    Creating a planning framework that proactively encourages…

  • Provincial zoning reform essential to reduce housing exclusion and displacement

    Sky-high rents, ultra-low vacancy rates and fierce competition for scarce homes have become the grim but familiar picture of housing in BC, driving unaffordability, exclusion and displacement. The BC government has made major housing policy announcements in recent weeks and a key focus has been tackling chronic municipal roadblocks to…

  • Government pressure to cut wages will increase the risk of deflation

    It is now abundantly clear that Canada and the world is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. However, a sense of premature Hoover-type optimism seems to have settled in to Ottawa’s thinking, breeding a dangerous complacency that the government has done all that is required to combat…

  • June 2004: The Indymedia Phenomenon

    The revolution won’t be televised, but it might be uploaded Wih the rise of “networked” society, we have seen the emergence of democratic social movements with a distinctly global orientation. Such movements are increasingly informed by, and dependent upon, information technologies and computer-mediated communication for their organizational activities, their ability…

  • Ignoring proven wait list solutions undermines health care sustainability

    Imagine looking in a mirror and not seeing the nose on your face. There it is, right in front of your eyes but somehow you just don’t see it. Sound impossible? Clearly, for some people it’s not because when it comes to health care, our provincial government is expert at…

  • The need for affordable child care

    Canada is at a game changing moment when it comes to child care. Historic federal funding agreements with provinces and territories now support a vision for high-quality, accessible child care across the country. Affordability is a top priority, with governments committing significant funds to reduce average child care fees by…

  • BC’s shiny new climate plan: A look under the hood

    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…

  • Reinventing the forestry industry: Made-in-Canada masks and much more

    Canada should seize the moment created by COVID-19 to become self-sufficient in making masks and other essential medical items, and look to new and emerging “bioproducts” to meet the need, not oil-based synthetics, say scientists, who have studied the untapped potential of the country’s forests. They are joined in that…

  • Ontario Alternative Budget

    Liberals’ patchwork reinvestment strategy leaves public services underfunded, says Ontario Alternative Budget

    TORONTO— According to an Ontario Alternative Budget technical paper released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the McGuinty government’s current fiscal plan would result in program spending dropping to levels lower than it was when they took power. Despite funding increases in key areas, the McGuinty government has…

  • Indigenous activists Andrew Paull, Chief William Scow, and Rev. Peter Kelly (seen left to right) with the First Indian Advisory Committee. Credit: North Vancouver Museum and Archives 2191.

    Nothing ‘liberal’ about colonial policy prior to Confederation

    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…

  • Economic Security Project (BC)

    A Path Out of Poverty

    Helping BC Income Assistance Recipients Upgrade Their Education Download 240.2 KB33 pages