Labour + Industry
Exclusion of engineers from BC Ferries union creating 'severe challenge'
By April 12, 2012 04:24 pm 1 commentsBC Ferries switched vessels on the main route linking Victoria to Vancouver and caused a delay yesterday because it lacked a properly qualified engineer. . Read more…
Border cuts at odds with tough-on-crime agenda, union says
By April 12, 2012 09:17 am 5 commentsThe union representing Canada's border guards says budget cuts are at odds with the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda. Read more…
Filed inSurvey says...fracking is causing earthquakes
By April 11, 2012 10:33 am 2 commentsA new report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says that the increased seismic activity taking place in certain areas of the United States is almost certainly the result of oil and gas drilling activities. Read more…
Filed inLocal Subway franchise gets 'Bad Boss' award
By April 10, 2012 05:21 pm 16 commentsYoung workers have given a local Subway restaurant franchise owner the BC Fed's Bad Boss Award for alleged "wage theft." Ministry of Labour says it will seek employer's side of the story. Read more…
BCTF asks LRB to cancel mediator's appointment
By April 5, 2012 12:20 pm 15 commentsThe British Columbia Teachers' Federation has asked the Labour Relations Board to cancel the appointment of Charles Jago as mediator in the labour dispute with its employer. Read more…
Company amassing options on protected Delta farmland
By April 3, 2012 02:13 pm 4 commentsA development company has quietly put together $100 million in options to purchase 226 hectares of Delta farmland now protected in the agricultural land reserve, independent MLA Vicki Huntington said today. Read more…
Northern Gateway pipeline hearings begin in Bella Bella, 1.5-days late
By April 3, 2012 10:31 am 2 commentsBELLA BELLA, B.C. - The Heiltsuk First Nation on B.C.'s central coast says the joint review panel considering the Northern Gateway pipeline project will begin hearings in Bella Bella at 1 p.m. this afternoon. Read more…
Heiltsuk statement: Protest in Bella Bella was 'very respectful'
By April 2, 2012 04:40 pm 12 commentsThe Tyee received this afternoon an emailed press release from the Heiltsuk Tribal Council in Bella Bella responding to the Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel's cancellation of the day's hearings in the community. According to press reports, the JRP cancelled the hearings because of security and logistical concerns, after protesters greeted their arrival at the airport. Read more…
BCGEU members to take strike vote as negotiations stall
By March 30, 2012 02:03 pm 3 commentsThe largest union representing British Columbia government workers is taking a strike vote among 25,000 of its members. Read more…
Filed inAll but unscathed by federal cuts: MPs and their pensions
By March 30, 2012 11:55 am 8 commentsOTTAWA -- So much for sharing the pain. Retirement just got harder for ordinary Canadians and for public servants, but the gold-plated pension plan enjoyed by members of Parliament has emerged virtually unscathed -- at least for now -- from Thursday's federal budget. Read more…
Filed inHarper budget has $8M to restrict 'political activities' of charities
By March 29, 2012 03:33 pm 40 commentsStephen Harper's conservative government intends to spend $8 million over the next two years to restrict the political activities of Canadian charities. The move is being perceived as an attack on Canada's environmental movement, which receives a portion of its funding from American charitable organizations. Read more…
Speculation about PetroChina 'premature in the extreme': Enbridge
By March 29, 2012 01:34 pm 8 commentsEnbridge didn't rule out the possibility that China's largest state-owned oil company, PetroChina, could one day build the Northern Gateway pipeline, but said in a statement that such speculation is "premature in the extreme." Read more…
Filed inPetroChina to build Northern Gateway pipeline?
By March 29, 2012 11:21 am 10 commentsChina's largest state-controlled oil company, PetroChina, is reportedly interested in building Enbridge's $5.5 billion Northern Gateway project. Read more…
Forum aims to help local politicians make 'progressive' change
By March 28, 2012 03:40 pmA two-day conference starting Friday will bring together B.C. politicians, policy-makers, educators and others who are at the cutting edge of social change -- and finding that edge close to home. The range of workshops at The Future Is Local Civic Governance Forum, to be held at Harrison Hot Springs, reflects various hot button issues local public officials face these days, said Charley Beresford, executive director of The Columbia Institute, which is putting on the event. Read more…
Education mediator's 2006 report saw labour agreements as 'constraint'
By March 28, 2012 02:58 pm 9 commentsIn a 2006 report, the person appointed to mediate the contract dispute between the British Columbia government and teachers described labour agreements as "constraining" leadership in the province's education system. Read more…
Ditching fossil fuels could be 'the hardest thing humans have ever done': McKibben
By March 27, 2012 12:55 pm 21 comments"We've dug ourselves into a hole with fossil fuels and climate change," noted environmental activist and author Bill McKibben told a sold-out crowd at the 15th anniversary banquet for the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on March 27, citing an alarming increase in climate change related disasters over the past decades. Read more…
Filed inCongo massacre survivors seek leave to appeal case at Supreme Court
By March 26, 2012 08:12 pm 3 commentsIf human rights groups and survivors of a massacre in the Democratic Republic of Congo have their way, the Supreme Court of Canada will grant them a day in court to consider claims that the Canadian mining firm Anvil Mining provided logistical support to Congolese troops who massacred over 100 unarmed civilians in Katanga province in 2004. Read more…
Filed inConsistent funding necessary for health research body, says NDP's Dix
By March 21, 2012 02:26 pmThe Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research should be given stable, predictable funding to do its work, said British Columbia New Democratic Party Leader Adrian Dix. Read more…
Filed inDenny's foreign workers win class action certification
By March 20, 2012 05:10 pm 6 commentsOver 70 foreign workers who say they were cheated by their employer after they were brought to Canada to work at local Denny's restaurants have won a significant legal victory. On March 5, Madam Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the workers can proceed with a class action against Northland Properties Corporation -- doing business as Denny's Restaurants -- and Dencan Restaurants Inc., the companies that run Denny's Restaurants in British Columbia. If successful, the class action certified by the court could cost Denny's upwards of ten million dollars. Read more…
Filed inJumbo Glacier ski resort likely to fail, says NDP's MacDonald
By March 20, 2012 03:20 pm 4 commentsDespite the British Columbia government's approval of the Jumbo Glacier ski resort, the project is unlikely to happen anytime soon, said New Democratic Party MLA Norm MacDonald. Read more…
The next page contains:
Controversial Jumbo Glacier ski resort can go ahead: BC minister
Health foundation awaits BC government funding decision
NDP critic finds BC agriculture plan empty
Bell acquires one of Canada's last independent media firms
Tory minister says 'all options are on the table' for F-35 fighter jets
Mediation with teachers likely to fail, says MLA
BC to see $77M in economic spinoff from X Games, says bid team
Don't plan for 'normal,' says BC teachers union before back-to-work bill passage
'Pipeline spills are not just an environmental concern': study
'Industry people have threatened me': AB air pollution campaigner
Bill passes to send Air Canada labour disputes to binding arbitration
Premier Clark wrong to manipulate job figures, says Dix
Clark's jobs plan worked better before it was announced
Tory plan to streamline environmental oversight draws fire
Former top AB oil sands salesman subject of ethics probe
Syncrude, Suncor have ambitious plans to clean up oil sands mess
Harper says decision to intervene in Air Canada dispute a special case
BC premier Clark's failure to debate education bill pathetic, says NDP's Horgan
Drug company should have addressed shortage sooner: de Jong
Picketing government offices an act of solidarity: BCTF's Lambert
The page after that contains:
Government argues LRB decision makes BCTF picket illegal
LA Times showcases BC's lessons from Climate Action Plan
Novartis lobbyist worked on NDP health critic's leadership campaign
BC government won't speed legislation to block teachers' strike
Asbestos sector wants Ottawa's help to overturn WHO death-toll estimate
BC government introduces bill to avoid teachers' strike
Company seeking BC liquor distribution change was fined in US
Actors' unions support workers in Rocky Mountaineer dispute
Could political change in Venezuela hurt Alberta's oil sands?
BC Ferries' quarterly vehicle traffic down 3.6 percent
BCTF calls legislation to end labour dispute 'bullying', will seek mediation
BC to legislate end to dispute with teachers
Liquor distribution privatization pitched by lobbyist who backed Clark
Scientist apologizes for using fake name to obtain Heartland docs
Higher taxes and deeper debt enable Kevin Falcon's balanced budget plan
BC minister Lake on missed cap and trade deadline: 'We're not quite there yet'
BC failing to plant enough trees to sustain future timber supply
Councillors in Terrace, BC, vote to oppose Northern Gateway project
Bennett is a partisan appointment to BC Hydro board, says NDP
'We are going to need two or three Enbridge-Keystones': Liepert
Democratic Trust
As British Columbia and other jurisdictions consider allowing online voting, can it be made secure enough that people will trust it? Will it encourage more people to vote? But if something goes wrong, will it further erode people's confidence in their democracies? And what role is the media likely to play in shaping the debate?
These are among the issues to be considered at a May 26 discussion that Fair Voting BC and PartyX are hosting at The Hive in Vancouver. I'll be on the panel, along with UBC Law's Fathima Cader and SFU computer scientist Steve Wolfman. The results and recommendations are to inform the two organizations' public positions on online voting.
Meanwhile join me and other contributors on The Hook as we bring you the latest from B.C. and across Canada.
-- Andrew MacLeod
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The Hook Most Recent
BC snuffs out AirCare test program
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Genetically modified plants won't take root with councillors in Richmond, BC
The Tyee Most Recent
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'The Dictator'
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Should You Run from that Medical Test?
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Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
Folks, this is not a referendum on whether teachers 'nurture' or 'care' enough.
Death in Remand: A Jail Crammed with Risk
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