Search results for “site/human rights”

  • Fast Facts: Canadian Premium Sand Barges Ahead With New Plan

    First published in the Winnipeg Free Press June 12, 2020 During the height of the global pandemic Canadian Premium Sand (CPS) released its plan B for their proposed frac sand mine and processing facility on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. Quite frankly plan B is even worse then their…

  • BC Budget Consultation Presentation June 2020

    The BC government is holding its annual public consultation on Budget 2021 this June, inviting British Columbians to share their priorities for government investment next year. BC Budget 2021 will have to tackle the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis—the full extent of which are still largely unknown. It is hard…

  • Trade and Investment Research Project

    TPP Deal Puts BC’s Privacy Laws in the Crosshairs

    British Columbia’s privacy laws are in the crosshairs of the nearly completed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. If you’re wondering what the heck data privacy protections have to do with trade, you’re not alone. Public awareness of the far-reaching, 12-country negotiation is scant, with polls showing three-quarters of Canadians have never even heard…

  • September 2004: Filling Our Tanks (And Brains) With The Wrong Fuel

    Lament for an election in which the crucial issue was ignored Anyone who has recently bought or leased a new car in Canada may find this warning in its Driver’s Manual: “In order to maintain good performance, fuel economy and emissions control, we strongly recommend the use of gasoline that…

  • Scapegoating the Poor

    Let’s start blaming the plutocrats, not their victims There’s an old African proverb that is becoming uncomfortably apt to apply to human behaviour in Canada: “As the waterhole gets smaller, the animals get meaner.” In other words, as the food, water, and other basic resources dwindle, so does the willingness…

  • C. D. Howe Shills for Oil Companies

    The C. D. Howe Institute is out this morning with a press release entitled, “Raising Oil and Gas Royalties Does Not Benefit Provincial Coffers.” A complete analysis of the accompanying 30-page paper – featuring many graphs, tables and regressions – will take time. But here is my initial take. Background The Institute correctly notes…

  • Fast Facts: Thunderbird House has potential to unite

    Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press October 9th, 2015 When award winning author Joseph Boyden announced he would donate half of his One Summit speaker fee to Circle of Life Thunderbird House to fix its leaky roof, he likely didn’t fully appreciate the meaning of this generous gesture.  …

  • On Labour Day, think about unions as an equalizing force

    By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed levels of production. Those who today attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them. Martin Luther King speaking in 1961 On Labour Day 2011 unions in North…

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: Rowing against the tide of history

    Manitoba’s pandemic response could do lasting damage to Manitoba economy Previously published by CBC Manitoba Opinion April 25, 2020 Manitoba’s provincial government is keen to have us all row in the same direction to combat COVID-19.  But currently, Brian Pallister’s government is not only failing to dip its oar in…

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: Failure to act fails us all…Manitoba income supports needed during COVID

    First published in the Winnipeg Free Press May 1, 2020 Manitoba must help those being clobbered financially by the COVID-19 pandemic: it is the right thing to do, we can afford it and, as a diverse array of economists have noted,  public spending is needed in a time of crisis.…

  • September 2004: A New “Social Architecture” For Canada?

    Planned redesign of social programs could spur privatization Policy-makers are quietly and stealthily planning to redesign Canada’s social programs—or, in the jargon so popular in social policy circles, they are trying to develop a new “social architecture” for Canada. And, no, it has nothing to do with the recent election—although,…

  • BC should transition to 100% non-profit and public delivery of seniors care post-crisis: researchers

    READ THE REPORT HERE. VANCOUVER — The coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on serious problems in Canada’s seniors care system and after the crisis the BC government should begin to transition away from its reliance on contracting with for-profit companies, say two Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives research associates.…