When I moved to Vancouver twenty years ago to pursue a career in music and the performing arts I never
Continue reading
Price Talks Ep21: Working in Vancouver’s ‘Liminal Space’ of the DTES & Community Economic Development
As a guest on Price Talks I talk about my experience over the last 10 years working at the intersections of public health, poverty, economic development and planning on the Price Talks podcast with editor Colin Stein (Formerly of the Vancouver Economic Commission and Downtown Kingston BIA).
Continue readingNotley’s threats to BC remind us of Enron and the California energy crisis
It would be great to see a healthier dialogue between Alberta and BC regarding Canadian energy and our future development. Sadly, the bar just gets dragged lower and lower. It’s March 2018 and despite opposition from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, populist prairie politicians are voicing support for Alberta strangling British Columbia’s supply of domestic oil and gas.
Continue readingThreats, insults, and bullying a winning formula to gain BC support for Kinder Morgan pipeline
“Shitheads” that’s how Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous described British Columbians this week at a meeting of Albertan Municipal leaders. The same week that Alberta’s Speech from the Throne floated the idea of punishing BC by turning off the supply of oil and gas to the province, a sensible way to demonstrate just how much communities in BC need Bitumen to be shipped to China for motorists there.
Continue readingPutting together B.C. and Alberta’s shared prosperity puzzle
British Columbia and Alberta are perfectly poised to lead Canada’s transition to a more sustainable form of energy security and prosperity. Instead they have created a level of hostility and resentment I don’t think we’ve ever seen between the two provinces. It’s all fire and fury as threats of lawsuits are tossed over the Rockies into B.C., along with a boycott of B.C. wine and swearing off vacations here. All this for the B.C. government raising concerns over what could happen if a pipeline or tanker transporting hazardous materials ruptures and threatens thousands of jobs and entire industries.
Continue reading
Prime Minister Trudeau is still right, Alberta’s oil should be nationalized
The national interest, we’re hearing that term a lot right now from Rachel Notley, Prime Minister Trudeau and those others who are eager to see the Kinder Morgan pipeline twinned. So what is it? And is this controversial pipeline truly reflective of it?
Continue readingCanada needs a frank discussion about Ken Hughes’ Globe and Mail op-ed
At some point this century Canada will have to move beyond the staples economy identity that resource extraction celebrants promote as our national identity, it can either be proactive about that or scramble when all the resources are depleted and government debts insurmountable from corporate subsidies to failing sunset industries.
Continue readingReflections on the start of SFU CED’s 2017-2018 Cohort
The SFU CED program has undergone a number of evolutions in the roughly 20 years that it has existed. It is currently undergoing another one of those evolutions as its relationship to Simon Fraser University and the Faculty of Environment in which it is situated deepens and expands. Constant throughout these evolutions have been the values at the core of the program and the hopes they bring.
Continue readingHow B.C.’s small businesses could be champions for $15 minimum wage
I’ve worked with small business owners and social enterprises on issues of policy and economic development for nearly a decade now in Vancouver and occasionally other communities in B.C. I’m here to make a case for increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour, but to also recognize that there are some serious affordability issues facing small business owners in this province, particularly in its larger cities, and most especially Vancouver.
Continue readingPetronas departure a tragedy or opportunity: Opinion
While proponents of the project claim this is a “tragedy for Canada,” there’s a more positive way of looking at things. After several years with B.C.’s economic policies held hostage to the myopic idea of an imminent LNG boom, letting go of the increasingly unfeasible LNG pipe dream presents a valuable opportunity to reimagine economic development in rural B.C.
Continue reading