Inside this issue:
Private Power Developers and the BC Government's Water Licence Giveaway
BC's Coastal Forest Communities Need a New Deal
Picking the Pockets of the Poor: The Price of BC's Welfare Cuts
Bucking the National Trend: Poverty Among Lone Mothers in BC
Time to End the Government's Love Affair with P3s
Gender equality
March 29, 2006 was the second anniversary of the passage into law of Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) Act, an Act marking the culmination of years of hard work by many thoughtful Canadians of diverse perspectives.
In the plenary session of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing more than 10 years ago, this proclamation was made by the Tanzanian chairperson, Gertrude Mongella: “A revolution has begun! There is no turning back!”
All the delegates from around the world, including me, rose in a tumultuous standing ovation.
But today our euphoria has given way to disillusionment.
(Vancouver) The provincial government has underestimated its revenues by $7.9 billion over the past four years and continues to low-ball projections. The government’s current “three-year fiscal plan” projects surpluses of just over $1 billion in the next two years. But more realistic estimates, using the Ministry of Finance’s own economic growth forecasts, show that the province can expect surpluses of $2.8 billion in 2006/07 and $3.9 billion in 2007/08.
In a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada recently confirmed the constitutionality of the federal government's provision of parental benefits under Employment Insurance (EI). The federal government now has no excuse not to do a better job of ensuring that this essential social program is meaningful for all employed women and men.
HALIFAX: Single parents face a monthly shortfall of between $180 and $415 while attending university according to study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study, “Fairness in Education for Single Parents in Nova Scotia,” presents the first detailed examination of income and expenses for single parent-university students in Nova Scotia. The author, Katherine Reed, of the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre, examined what would be the income and expenses of several single parent families, if the heads of the families were university students.