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Search results for: “site/economics of childcare”
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Best Books of 2012
Here are, in no particular order, my picks for the four best books of 2012 from a progressive economics perspective. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin. The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire. (Verso). I suspect this book will become a classic. It is a rich and highly…
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Time for a Serious Conversation about Natural Gas
It is pretty clear that the government’s ill-conceived Energy Plan is falling apart. The near religious call for self-sufficiency has been moderated (though not sensibly changed) and the legislated requirement for insurance eliminated. The plan to develop run-of-river and wind IPPs for export has been abandoned. The problem of charging…
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Depleting natural gas reserves makes no sense for BC
British Columbia is no petro state. So why do our political leaders insist that we are a global energy power? At the University of Calgary last month, Premier Christy Clark boldly asserted that BC could one day export four trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year, an amount that…
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BC is giving away its natural gas
In September, when the BC government tabled its First Quarterly Report on the BC Budget the big story was on plummeting natural gas royalties, which means cuts to public services in order to keep the budget balance in check. As the update states on page 6: The deterioration in natural gas…
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Work Life: MB Liquor Between Rock and Hard Place
The issuance of mandate letters to provincial crown corporations has put management and staff on notice, warning that “the old way of doing things” is over. The preamble for all the letters is the same, with claims that this government is committed to “prudent fiscal management, creating jobs, improving health…
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Fiscal Cliff Notes
The US federal budget is back in the spotlight now that the election is over. In one sense, not much has changed in that the Republicans continue to hold the House, the Democrats the Senate and White House. But what we are now witnessing is the culmination of budget deals…
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Which side are you on?
NHL Lockout “The owners can basically be viewed as the Ranch, and the players, and me included, are the cattle. The owners own the Ranch and allow the players to eat there. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it will be forever. And the owners simply…
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Is BC breaking its GHG law by pursuing natural gas development?
Today we released a new report by yours truly, BC’s Legislated Greenhouse Gas Targets vs Natural Gas Development: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. It was just five years ago that BC brought in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, a signal that BC was serious about climate action. The Act calls for a…
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The “New” Saskatchewan: Oklahoma North?
Of the litany of proposed changes contained in the Saskatchewan government’s Consultation Paper on the Renewal of Labour Legislation in Saskatchewan, the most pernicious is the suggestion that employees be allowed to opt out of paying union dues, yet still receive the full benefits of union membership. This idea is dangerously reminiscent of U.S. right-to-work (RTW) laws…
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Log exports: waving the white flag of economic defeat
As more and more raw, unprocessed logs leave British Columbia’s coast in ocean freighters bound for the far side of the world, a common refrain from some in our forest industry is that we have no choice. Because workers in mills in China are paid so little, log buyers there…
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Fast Facts: Changes in practices needed, if we’re serious about reconciliation
First published in the Winnipeg Free Press April 10, 2019 Offer money to leaders in a cash-poor community to gain support for a resource extraction project. Publicly shun and disenfranchise individuals who don’t agree. Deceive people into signing their support without full information. Divide the community. Commence destructive preparation of…
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The Weight of the One Percent
Environment hurt more by super-rich than population growth Last October, two things happened that captured media attention. One was the run-up to the birth of the United Nations-selected seven billionth person on Earth. While this was a rather absurd exercise, given the impressive inaccuracy of demographic projections, it does have…