Thoughts on BC Politics and More

The province’s economic strategy needs to look beyond shovels in the ground and confront deeper weakness in private-sector growth  The BC government’s economic development strategy is increasingly centred on facilitating a new wave of large projects—mainly in the energy, mining and infrastructure sectors. Such projects are important and offer the tantalizing prospect of kick-starting a struggling economy. Advancing more projects will generate good jobs, foster new business for local suppliers of “inputs” (like engineering, technical and financial services), and add billions to the economy. But on their own, a few big projects will not be sufficient to sustain a healthy pace of growth or materially move the dial on overall economic well-being ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The deal BC government workers earned after a tense eight-week strike is having a ripple effect across public sector bargaining tables. In October, the BC General Employees’ Union and the BC government agreed to a wage increase of three per cent each year over four years. David Hannah, a business professor at Simon Fraser University, said the union’s win has changed the mandate for public sector employers. “The financial side is now set,” Hannah said. “Everyone knows what their financial envelope is going to be, and it’s going to be based on what the BCGEU got for their deal”  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Premier David Eby recently described British Columbia as Canada’s future “economic engine,” one that, in a nod to climate change, would be powered “by clean, reliable, affordable power.” Lots of it. Ten days later, the province’s Crown energy corporation, BC Hydro, quietly released a more muted vision of the path ahead. Its draft energy plan reveals the utility has scaled down its expectations for energy demand and has no plans to procure the energy BC would need to meet its climate targets by electrifying its industries, cars and homes. “It seems like we’ve just put climate in the drawer and forgotten about it,” said Marc Lee, a senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The BC Greens have unveiled a proposal for bold tax reforms for the province, including a controversial inheritance tax, tax increases for the ultra-wealthy, and a review of the popular property-tax deferral program. They were among what they called seven “viable pathways” for the BC government to raise revenue to address the provincial deficit. “It’s time for the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share,” leader Emily Lowan said at a news conference ... CLICK HERE for the full story

There are 86 lawyers listed on the first page of the reasons for judgment in the BC Supreme Court decision on the Cowichan Tribes’ Aboriginal title case. So right off the bat, you know that the monumental decision on the 11-year-old case is not the end of the matter. The Cowichan were represented by 25 lawyers. The federal government used 17, the Musqueam Band had 14, BC supplied 11, Vancouver Port Authority had eight, Richmond had seven, and the Tsawwassen First Nation had four. The first response of all seven parties involved in the case was to appeal. So the conclusion isn’t really a conclusion at all. It’s going to take years before the issues raised in the decision are even addressed, let alone resolved ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

The BC government wants to merge all its many digital services into a new entity, with the goal of giving people a single place to access everything from children’s report cards to prescription data and campsite reservations. Shannon Salter, head of the provincial public service, unveiled the changes recently, setting in place a reorganization to create Connected Services BC. “The goal is that by 2030 for individuals and businesses, every major interaction they have with government will be through one simple front door,” Salter said in an interview. “They will enter their information one time, and it will be applied to all the things that they need to access in government. There will be no wrong doors, just the right front door”  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Care homes operators are sounding the alarm that the ending of some provincial funding could lead to disruptions for seniors—but the consequences may actually impact nearly all British Columbians. The BC government is ending funding for overtime and contracted workers implemented to help with pandemic-related staffing issues, even though the number of qualified workers remains so low, operators continue to rely on overtime to keep the doors open ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA), Canada’s largest construction association, is urging the NDP Government to confirm that all public owners – including ministries, Crown corporations, government agencies, municipal halls, school boards, and regional districts – must comply with Bill 20, the Construction Prompt Payment Act . While Bill 20 generally applies to construction contracts, it also allows government to exclude “prescribed” improvements or owners by regulation and to differentiate based on “public or private ownership.” ICBA is seeking an unequivocal commitment that public owners will not be carved out or phased in later than the private sector. “Prompt payment has to mean prompt payment for everyone – including the Province and municipalities,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA President. “If government exempts itself or delays its own compliance, the law’s credibility will be undermined on day one. Public owners must lead by example, pay on t...

BC’s seniors advocate says three months after he produced a report on the urgent need for long-term care beds, there’s still no action plan to address a critical shortage — 2,000 beds now, with 16,000 needed over the next decade. Dan Levitt tabled a report in July at the BC legislature that estimated the current number of publicly subsidized long-term care beds in the province at 29,595. That number is more than 2,000 beds short of the government’s own projected demand for publicly subsidized long-term care beds — 31,609 as of March — and the gap will “grow exponentially” over the next decade to almost 16,858 in 2036 ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Negotiations between the province and its largest public sector union broke down immediately after they got started Monday, with the union calling the province’s latest offer “insulting.”  The BC General Employees’ Union said the first bargaining session since talks broke down in July were a bust after it claimed the province’s proposal fell well short of the mark.  Union president Paul Finch vowed job action will escalate.  “Until they come back with something better, we’re out”  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The BC government is not ready to announce when or how it will balance the budget, says the finance minister, despite a damning presentation Tuesday on the deteriorating state of the province’s finances that suggests it might take more than five years. Brenda Bailey said that while credit rating agencies, economists and other experts may want to see a concrete plan to balance the record $11.6-billion deficit, she’s still putting the building blocks in place towards such a goal. “I’m not going to be setting a specific timeline at this point,” said Bailey. “There’s a lot of volatility in the economy right now. But this work is ongoing. And we’re going to get back to balance over time” ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The BC government says it will consider mandatory codes of conduct for municipal governments after years of calls to strengthen the ad hoc approach that has long been criticized as ineffective. Article content The province did not commit to a schedule for implementing mandatory codes or provide details on how they might be administered and enforced. It will discuss the subject with municipal staff and elected officials in the coming months and aims to have some kind of new measures in place before next year’s municipal elections, a BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Independent MLA Jordan Kealy has sounded the alarm over a plan to decide the future of nearly three million hectares of ceded 'ancestral territory' in northern British Columbia. If approved, the plan would turn a large portion of Crown land into parks and indigenous protected and conserved areas ... ... Kealy argued that the government had not done nearly enough to properly engage with the public given the size and scope of the project. "They definitely do a lot of things behind the scenes without letting the public or local government know," he lamented. "A lot of these topics are brought up between First Nations and the provincial government through consensus folders" ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

It’s baffling that governments seem to think giving police more money will somehow magically solve problems. The latest example is the BC government’s funding for a 12-officer RCMP unit to combat human trafficking — an announcement that came in the same week The Tyee reported on the closure of PACE Society, which has provided services to sex workers in Vancouver for 31 years. Human trafficking takes many forms, from forced labour to sexual exploitation. When it comes to vulnerable people being coerced into sex work, organizations like PACE are much more likely to identify cases of trafficking and provide help than police ... CLICK HERE for the full story

A 2021 report compiled by H2 Gambling Capital for the provincial government estimated that British Columbia residents were wagering as much as $5.3 billion on unregulated online websites per year, with total gross revenues of more than $200 million — a figure the BC government believes has nearly doubled in the years since.  The gambling sector analysis also found the most-visited unregulated websites were major players in the global online gambling market, who have spent years lobbying the BC government to let them operate legally in the province.  Michael Thompson, the executive director of the BC Gaming Industry Alliance ... says this is evidence British Columbia should resist pressure to open up the market to private competitors ... CLICK HERE for the full story

One week after taking a victory lap on safer streets, the BC government is getting yanked back into reality by municipal councils and police frustrated by the rising street disorder, crime and public safety concerns around safe consumption sites. In Nanaimo, Councillor Ian Thorpe put forward a motion on Monday to demand the Vancouver Island Health Authority close an overdose prevention site located next to city hall. The city had previously considered erecting a 10-foot-tall fence around the municipal property to address vandalism, crime and safety issues from the site that were hurting city staff and residents. “The consumption site is a symbol of our failed government policy" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The federal government’s new law designed to fast-track major projects has put the true meaning of UNDRIP’s “free, prior and informed consent” provisions under the spotlight. At the core of the issue is a simple question: does “consent” mean an Indigenous veto over projects, even those in the public interest?  While the prime minister and his justice minister have tried to walk a delicate line to avoid making that commitment, British Columbia has gone all-in on the veto approach. Under the auspices of BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’s Act, Premier David Eby has admitted that provincially significant projects on Crown land will not be expedited under its own fast-track law without the consent of Indigenous groups. At the same time, an effective veto is already being written into a growing number of agreements with Indigenous groups covering vast swaths of the province ... CLICK HERE for the full story

There’s still another month before the BC government’s next budget update, but new data indicates it could be a fiscal bloodbath for the NDP government. Statistics Canada data released Thursday on the province’s economic growth shows it has shrunk over the last two years when adjusted for population, according to an analysis by the Business Council of BC. BC’s GDP per capita fell 1.8 per cent in 2024, which is the second-worst among provinces, council vice-president David Williams wrote in his analysis Tuesday. “BC’s economic performance over recent years has been poor, especially when considered in population-adjusted terms”  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The BC NDP government is facing the spectre of a late summer strike by the province’s largest public sector union, after negotiations crumbled. The BC General Employees’ Union says it will take a strike vote from its more than 34,000 members in mid-August, setting up the potential for job action by Labour Day. “We do not take that action lightly, but we did that after the employer, the government, failed to move meaningfully on the asks that were critically important to our members,” said BCGEU president Paul Finch. The BCGEU was the first union to start contract talks with government this year, and is the first to walk away from the table ... CLICK HERE for the full story

It didn't take long for the BC government to expand on the limited projects designated as "streamlined" by Bill 14, the Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act. All future wind and solar projects will now be covered under the act, making them the responsibility of the BC Energy Regulator. This allows the regulator to control permitting and make orders related to land use and wildlife protection, among other things. This adds to the nine wind energy projects and the North Coast Transmission Line, which were the only projects initially slated for streamlining when the bill passed on May 28 ... CLICK HERE for the full story