‘This is about the B.C. government destroying a sanctuary for dying patients who want the choice to stay in a facility where MAID is not offered’
You might think the middle of a global pandemic is less than an ideal time to disrupt the operations of a hospice where palliative care patients receive comfort as they approach death. If so, you would not share the apparent thinking of the B.C. government or its local Fraser Health Authority, which is forcing layoffs…
The impact of oil and natural gas is significant, whether it is for salaries, Indigenous jobs, or GDP
By Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam Canadian Energy Centre How much do the oil and natural gas industries contribute to British Columbia’s economy? One way to see the impact is to look at those of Indigenous ancestry. Their employment proportions across sectors and incomes reveals a lot about where the good-paying jobs are, and also…
Elections will turn us away from dealing with the real issues. And we don't seem to have the means to conduct safe voting
We would really like to have many things right now, even though the prospect of getting them any time soon is rather low. A vaccine against COVID-19 is likely at the top of the list. A bit more certainty about our work and social prospects is probably a close second. Instead of dealing with the…
Absent a wholesale restructuring of the economy, meeting the 2030 goal will be an impossible task
By Jock Finlayson and Denise Mullen Business Council of B.C. Targets. We all know what they mean, or think we do. Several words convey essentially the same notion – e.g., goals, objectives, ambitions and intentions. The idea is about getting something accomplished at some point in the future. This brings us to B.C.’s greenhouse gas…
The B.C. government’s claim in the court challenge to medicare that waiting lists don’t harm patients is nothing short of ridiculous
After years of political debate and public frustration, it seems the future of Canadian health care may now depend on the outcome of a decade-long legal battle that’s now in the hands of a B.C. Supreme Court justice. The plaintiffs are Dr. Brian Day, the private Cambie Surgery Centre and four British Columbians who have…
Recent sawmill closures have exposed a raft of problems in the industry and government failure to ensure long-term productivity
Recent sawmill closures in British Columbia have brought to light the need for renewed focus on the mismanagement of B.C. forests over the past decades and what to do about it. That mismanagement is having a significant effect on the B.C. and Canadian economies. If you live in the B.C. interior, where more than 820…
We should be watching the case of B.C. clerk of the legislature Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz very carefully
As the old song says, “money makes the world go round” – at least on the level of material possessions. And money falls into two categories: ours and other people’s. Of course, we’re free to do whatever we wish with our money. We can spend it extravagantly. Or we can take care of it, spending…
The government is trampling on the rights of ride-sharing businesses and their potential customers
Many British Columbians want rides from Point A to Point B and will pay somebody to drive them. Others have access to cars and want to earn money giving people rides. But the provincial government is preventing these mutually beneficial exchanges. The governing New Democrats promised during the 2017 election campaign that British Columbians would…
ICBC represents an asset to the provincial government, which faces deficit problems
The Insurance Corp. of British Columbia (ICBC) has recently suffered significant losses. These losses have been offset by transfers from its optimal business. But without transfers, the basic business capital would have fallen below the regulatory minimum. Even worse, optimal business has also suffered a loss. ICBC is a Crown corporation managed by the province…
No electoral system has a monopoly on either preventing or fostering far right parties
By Seth Klein and Vyas Saran Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Endlessly repeating that proportional representation should be rejected because it will enable far right or extremist political parties is clearly a core assertion of the No side in B.C.’s electoral reform referendum debate. It’s a bogus claim. No electoral system has a monopoly on either…
You might think the middle of a global pandemic is less than an ideal time to disrupt the operations of a hospice where palliative care patients receive comfort as they approach death. If so, you would not share the apparent thinking of the B.C. government or its local Fraser Health Authority, which is forcing layoffs…
