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  • The federal role in poverty reduction

    Days after the 2015 federal election, a Globe and Mail opinion piece pointed out something many anti-poverty advocates already knew: “Every province and territory but British Columbia has a poverty reduction strategy in place or in development. Many cities and towns do, too. Until now, the big missing piece has…

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    The extra-long logging haul

    As forests shrink, drivers work 16-hour days to deliver single loads of logs to BC sawmills When Eugene Wilson started driving a logging truck 24 years ago, he worked out of the Bulkley valley community of Houston three hours west of Prince George. He recalls the trips as if they…

  • Wood wasted at BC logging sites would fill a cross-country truck convoy — twice

    Costs include thousands of potential jobs, sharply higher CO2 emissions: report CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT (Vancouver) A new report on BC’s forest industry finds that startling numbers of usable logs are being left to rot or burn at logging sites, at a potential cost of thousands of…

  • Tax the rich

    Robust wealth tax could raise $363B over 10 years

    Amid a rise in extreme inequality, the idea of an annual tax on the wealth of the super-rich has risen to prominence in recent years in many countries. New analysis shows that a robust wealth tax in Canada—one that goes further than those currently on the table in the federal…

  • Masked crowd

    11 steps toward a more just society for Budgets ‘22 and beyond

    As a fourth wave of COVID-19 ramps up, the impact of the pandemic on the economy, policymaking and budgets has not gone away. More broadly, government responses to the pandemic at both the national and provincial levels have generally been seen as a success. Much like in WWII, this appears…

  • Nova Scotia Alternative Budget

    Budgets more than numbers

    The Nova Scotia Department of Finance recently launched an interactive “Back to Balance” website, giving community members an opportunity to try their hands at government budgeting. The site is technically sophisticated and informative. Users can move sliders to adjust the levels of various taxes and expenditures, and pop-up bubbles provide…

  • Social Policy Framework Questions for the 41st Nova Scotian Election

    With the 41st NS election set for August 17th, 2021 we have taken the 10 Guiding Principles of the Social Policy Framework for Nova Scotia developed with the Nova Scotia College of Social Work and re worked them as questions to ask candidates. Principle 1, Interconnectedness. How will you ensure interconnectedness…

  • Out-of-control rents

    Rental wages in Canada, 2023

    CMHC, “Rental Market Survey Data Tables,” 2023. For a notable exception, see John Rapley, “Canada’s approach to housing is bad for the economy,” The Globe and Mail, July 14, 2023. David Macdonald, “Unaccommodating: Rental Housing Wage in Canada” (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2018), policyalternatives.ca/unaccommodating. David Macdonald and Ricardo…

  • Financialization of housing must be confronted

    Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press January 12, 2023 Government housing policy preferences are based on values, the most fundamental being the extent to which housing is viewed as a right, or as a commodity. From a rights value base, housing is a social good — a home and…

  • BC Budget 2021 — Missed opportunities and inadequate investments

    VANCOUVER —  The BC government made some needed investments in its 2021 budget for COVID-19 recovery, but there is scarce new funding for major priorities like child care, housing and climate action says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “Aside from time-limited spending on the COVID-19 pandemic, the BC government tabled…

  • Red markers indicate dams currently being reviewed by the EAO’s office; yellow markers indicate water licences that Progress Energy applied for on December 23 of last year and where dams already existed.

    A Dam Troublesome Exception: Progress Energy’s dams should not be exempted from environmental review

    I sent the following letter to BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) in response to Progress Energy’s extraordinary request to retroactively exempt the Lily and Town dams from environmental reviews. Such reviews should have been conducted before the dams were built. Not only did those reviews not happen, but the company…

  • Trade and Investment Research Project

    Trans-Pacific Partnership hides significant health costs, according to two new studies

    OTTAWA – As Canada prepares to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand this week, two new studies from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reveal significant risks and high public costs to the Canadian health care system within the text of the agreement. The TPP would require…