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…
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.…
Big Pharma’s R&D excuse for steep prices is unfounded The pharmaceutical industry is dominated by just 10 to 20 giant companies–roughly half European and half American–although they are really global in their reach. They all do business in much the same way, and often act more like an oligopoly than…
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.…
Noted Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein published The Shock Doctrine more than a decade ago. The book’s major thesis is that governments and others in position of power exploit national and international crises to establish controversial policies while citizens are too distracted to notice, to engage and to…
The BC Government’s Alternative Service Delivery Plan in practice When a meter-reader comes to your home to check your monthly electricity consumption, they wear a BC Hydro uniform, but they are, in fact, no longer employees of BC Hydro. They work for Accenture, a Bermuda-based, for-profit, multinational corporation. Similarly, when…
Canadian government spies on Brazil — and its own citizens In the September issue of the CCPA Monitor, I reported on the U.S. National Security Agency’s (NSA) spying on hundreds of millions of its citizens, as revealed by whistle-blower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Now it appears that the…
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT Ottawa—L’Accord économique et commercial global entre le Canada et l’Union européenne (AECG) mènera à une hausse significative du coût des médicaments selon une étude publiée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA). L’étude examine les dernières révélations concernant l’accord provisoire et…
In Manitoba, messages about the importance of workplace health and safety are hard to miss. The SAFE Work campaigns run year-round by the Workers Compensation Board are trying to foster a culture of workplace health and safety in which it becomes socially unacceptable to put workers in harm’s way. After…
Profit-driven system exploits, mistreats vulnerable youth “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul,” Nelson Mandela says, “than the way in which it treats its children.” Who would disagree? Yet today children may be assaulted, diseased, or killed by pervasive corporate drugs, junk foods and beverages, perverted by…
When the government imposed its Energy Plan on BC Hydro it never bothered to estimate the costs (or for that matter the benefits) of what it hoped to achieve. Ardent supporters of that Plan, like my good friend Mark Jaccard, constructed scenarios under which it would make sense to force…
Less than 1% reduction in child poverty in Nova Scotia since 1989 CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT Halifax – In Nova Scotia there are 40,710 children or close to 1 in 4 children (24.2%) who live in poverty based on the most recent data. The 2019 Report Card…