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 readingAt 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 readingThe 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 readingI’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 readingWhile 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 readingWes Regan, executive director of the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association, told the Straight that younger, middle-income earners are being overlooked in the housing debate.
Continue readingJust this past Friday the National Energy Board (NEB) halted the review process for the proposed Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline twinning. It wasn’t because scientists and concerned residents had been arrested on Burnaby Mountain in protest; it wasn’t because of collective statements from the Mayors of several Lower Mainland cities and First Nations condemning the project; it wasn’t even because scores of intervenors wrote public letters about the horribly flawed process that many of us subsequently walked away from altogether.
Continue readingThey say Nero fiddled as Rome burned. While it may not feel as if Canada itself has been lit ablaze, it feels like Canadian democracy certainly has. Conservative and Liberal MPs doused it in gasoline with the passing of Bill C-51 in Parliament; the latter committing themselves to making corrections and edits once the fire was lit.
Continue readingToday I was out celebrating Canada Day with friends and neighbours, but I was also doing a lot of thinking. I was thinking about the Wampum belt. About the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. About the future of an increasingly multicultural and urban Canada. About Canada, the Iroquois word for “village” and “the land” and Canada the serial winner of Fossil of the Year for its lack of leadership on climate change.
Continue readingFor years Vancouverites have raised alarm bells about the loss of affordable housing in low-income communities like the Downtown Eastside; now we are starting to see the dots connecting. Middle-income earners are beginning to understand what feelings of anxiety and powerlessness due to a lack of housing options feels like.
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