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Search results for: “site/human rights”
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Fast Facts: From the Throne to the Kitchen Table
Are the priorities of the Manitoba government in line with Manitobans’ more broadly? This is the question asked last week by a diverse group of community volunteers, representing teachers, healthcare professionals and those concerned about climate change, poverty and income inequality. They were comparing the vision presented in the recent…
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February 2004: The Vanishing Country (Part III of III)
After years of kowtowing, our influence with the U.S. is still zilch, Canada is too good a country to let our Americanizers destroy it U.S. President George W. Bush and the U.S. ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, were “disappointed” that Canada didn’t join in the American-led invasion of Iraq. Their…
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Darkwoods, the murky world of carbon credits and a “carbon neutral” BC government
It is spun in government press releases as a “first” for any jurisdiction in North America, an achievement that places British Columbia “on the leading edge” of efforts to combat climate change. But scratch the surface just a little and questions arise about the legitimacy of Environment Minister Terry Lake’s…
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BC NDP-Green agreement offers historic opportunity for game-changing new policies
What an interesting and exciting moment in BC politics! For a bunch of policy nerds like us at the CCPA, it doesn’t get much better than this. On Tuesday May 30, the BC NDP and BC Green Party released the terms of their agreement to cooperate and grant legislative confidence…
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Darkwoods, the murky world of carbon credits and a “carbon neutral” B.C. government
It is spun in government press releases as a “first” for any jurisdiction in North America, an achievement that places British Columbia “on the leading edge” of efforts to combat climate change. But scratch the surface just a little and questions arise about the legitimacy of Environment Minister Terry Lake’s…
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Canada’s fossil fuel lobby influences policy and decisions for major federal government projects
There’s no doubt that climate change and fossil fuel extraction were vote determining for significant sections of the population in the federal election. These issues dominated the federal leaders’ debates and since September we’ve seen hundreds of thousands across the country join student-led climate strikes demanding more robust climate action.…
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Prairie Commons in Crisis
Beneficial Community Pasture Program killed by Bill C-38 With the widespread damage to environmental protection inflicted by the federal government’s omnibus Bill C-38, it was easy to miss the fate of more than a million acres of humble prairie grasslands. These grasslands provide habitat for endangered prairie species and provide…
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Government polices part of story of BC’s declining median income
The results of the 2006 Census on income were recently published and produced stark headlines about enormous wage declines in Canada over the past 25 years. The income gap between rich and poor is widening, immigrant incomes are plummeting and young people entering the labour market are earning less than…
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Fast Facts: McFadyen’s Bloated Numbers Make For Murky Bi Pole III Debate
As recorded in Hansard, since the beginning of the Legislative session on April 12, there have been ongoing relentless attacks, on Hydro, the West route for Bipole 3, and the government. The attacks, mainly by Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen, have centred on the costs of the West route, claiming that…
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The Wild West and dysfunctional B.C. politics
Anyone wanting to see just how dysfunctional politics in B.C. has become should check out Bob Simpson’s recent Private Members’ statement in the provincial legislature. For seven minutes Simpson, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cariboo North and one of two Independent MLAs, spoke about why he and fellow Independent…
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The Age of Austerity
Despite austerity’s failure, politicians still won’t scrap it We are living in the “Age of Austerity” – or at least so says David Cameron, the U.K.’s Prime Minister. He made this announcement in 2009 at the Conservative convention just before becoming Prime Minister. This meant, he explained, that he would…
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Canada-China investment deal deserves greater public scrutiny
The pending takeover of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen by the state-owned Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation is attracting a lot of attention. There are legitimate questions regarding whether this foreign takeover is in the national interest or to the “net benefit” of Canada. By contrast, the Canada-China Foreign…