Suppression of minimum wages is a right-wing policy position that is not irrational or ill-conceived; instead, this and other acts are intelligently designed to manage and discipline low-income populations, while boosting the profits and position of the economic elite…
Postmedia, still allied with BC Liberals
It is not the first time a Postmedia newspaper has presented a misleading report on public affairs. This one doesn’t rise to the level of Brian Lilley’s ugly dog whistle implication that Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam is more loyal to China than Canada, and should be fired. Rob Shaw authored the latest…
Wacky world of minimum wages
Increasing income of the working poor ensures that extra dollars are spent in local communities on things like food, clothing, medical and dental care, and housing. According to a University of California report, higher minimum wages reduce poverty rates among households and children, without affecting employment levels. To most of us, that is an admirable outcome…
Economic challenges ahead
Big money earned through illegal activities might have a greater impact than we care to admit and economic stimulus from criminal enterprises may explain why the former government hesitated to enforce certain laws. Over a long time, BC has seen a reduction of jobs in goods producing sectors, particularly in manufacturing, and a significant increase in service sector jobs. I expect we will have to rely more on innovative small and medium sized enterprises for future job growth and that our new government ought to provide increased encouragement to SMEs.
Labour Day – Canadian heritage moment – Rerun
In modern times, the Canadian union movement has lost influence but not relevance. It is easy to forget that unions enabled a broad middle class. Workers in unionized company towns in BC’s 20th century resource economy set the bar for others. They showed how positive full employment with good wages enables high quality life for the entire community.
Empress’ new clothes
Before BC’s last provincial election, the governing party was trailing in the polls, still suffering from the HST fiasco, their failed effort to shift sales tax burdens from businesses to individuals. Premier Clark’s handlers decided to weave her a new set of clothes. When first shown to the public, oblivious cheerleaders in the corporate media rose in unison to applaud. Like the child in Hans Christian Andersen’s story, alternative media revealed the truth.
A reader comments on forestry
Reader Ken Barry today submitted a comment to an article written last July – Log exports update. It reminds of a subject that’s close to my heart and, I think, an illustration […]
Mythbusting
Statistics Canada reports that 27,200 fewer people were employed in British Columbia in January, compared to the month earlier. A single period is an unreliable indicator but StatsCan provides decades of data […]
BC Jobs Plan
British Columbia Liberals haven’t talked much about the BC Jobs Plan lately, perhaps because they don’t want people looking too closely at statistical reports. Those reveal a trend where full-time jobs are […]
Remembering the desperate nineties – Updated
Sources: BC Public Accounts, BC Stats, Bank of Canada Sources: BC Public Accounts, BC Stats, Bank of Canada A recent report from Statistics Canada, Exports and imports of natural gas to and […]
Not last in sparkle ponies – updated
Statistics Canada reports weekly earnings by province (Table 281-0027) and it seems that if Christy Clark aims to lead average British Columbians in a race to the bottom, she is succeeding. In […]
"You cain’t pray a lie" – H. Finn
Canadian Press, April 7, 2013: [Premier Christy] Clark told a Vancouver Island economic summit her government’s highly touted September 2011 jobs plan — with its focus on increased trade with China and […]
"Jobs, jobs, jobs" Or, maybe not
. The audio file above is a recording of my time with Ian Jessop May 12. We talk about jobs and natural resources but we don’t deliver BC Liberal talking points like […]
Sliding from have to have-not
Statistics Canada provides surveys that allow analysis of employment. In my opinion, one data set that gains too little attention is the employment rate. It refers to the number of persons employed, […]
Managers justify generous treatment of managers
In 2013, the consulting firm Ernst & Young was hired to review trends in compensation across the BC Public Sector. It is now available through the Legislature’s public documents. Reports of this […]
Conflict of interest. Wazzat?
When football coach Jerry Sandusky recruited, groomed and molested boys, he continued for years because people around him stayed quiet. In 2009, Sara Ganim, then a 22-year-old writer for a small newspaper, […]
Model T and Big Mac parallels
A once convenient version of history stated that a century ago, Henry Ford paid daily wages of $5, double the usual, so workers could afford the vehicles they made. According to myth, […]
In the dining room, an OOPs moment
Link to copy of original job offer
There’s fish in the lake
Two unions are in court to overturn Temporary Foreign Worker Program permits that allow 200 Chinese coal miners to work in northern BC. The labour organizations claim the permits were based on […]
Unwelcome hero of working people
In the preceding article It is an old and cruel tactic, a reader’s comment referenced long dead miner Albert ‘Ginger’ Goodwin. Today, few young adults know this icon of trade unionism but […]
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