·
In the 2008 municipal election, Gregor Robertson swept into the Mayor’s office on a promise to eliminate homelessness in Vancouver. The issue was the centrepiece of his campaign, even though the target date for fulfilling the promise was 2015, seven years away. Now, with 2015 almost upon us, the homeless count is way up and…
Instead of going to back-to-school this month, BC students and parents are getting a lesson in class struggle. They are the collateral damage of Premier Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government and their ideological vendetta against BC teachers and their union. This past week, the BCTF showed itself remarkably willing to compromise, while the BC government…
This past weekend in Ottawa, thousands of activists from all across Canada participated in the Peoples Social Forum. With little more than a year until the next federal election, much of the talk around the Social Forum was about defeating Stephen Harper’s government. But this historic gathering of progressive political forces was about much more…
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? – Mark 8:36. I remember seeing this line from the Bible painted on the side of a grain elevator on the prairies.
Summer in the city. This weekend, I got offline and out with the family to enjoy a few of the many festivals on right now in Vancouver.
When it comes to Vancouver’s crisis of housing affordability, our city’s municipal politicians are better at making excuses than at taking action.
Vancouver’s municipal political scene has begun to show signs of pre-electoral activity- an unexpected turn of events since the electoral year has proved somewhat boring so far. But campaign teams may be starting to spring into action. News about a Non Partisan Association (NPA) fundraiser emerged shortly after Vision Vancouver released an electoral video, starring…
Christy Clark loves to do photo-ops wearing a hard hat. That was basically her uniform on the campaign trail last year.
I’m writing this column in somewhat of a daze of sleep deprivation and euphoria. Our second son, Camilo, was born a week ago. Our little family of four can’t afford to live in Vancouver. But we’re doing it anyway, with our 750 or so square feet downtown. After our first son was born, we gave…
We’re just over six months from municipal elections in BC, so it’s time to pivot this column’s focus toward city politics. Here in Vancouver, Mayor Gregor Robertson looks to be headed for a three-peat in November. Count me out of the victory party. There are serious problems in this city, namely gaping inequality and a…
Stephen Harper is trying to rewrite the rules around elections in Canada, and we can’t afford to let him get away with it. The prime minister won a majority government in 2011 with 39 per cent of votes, which were cast by a mere 61 per cent of eligible voters. He doesn’t need either of…
It’s the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you’re mad, then dangerous, then there’s a pause and then you can’t find anyone who disagrees with you. Tony Benn The world is a little bit darker place this week, after the death of Tony Benn, a shining light of progressive politics…
Everyone who thinks seriously about the world’s ecological crisis and in particular the threats posed by climate change must end up asking themselves some variation of these two questions: what if it is too late to avert catastrophic and runaway climate change? And, how can we possibly defeat the forces arrayed against us, starting with…
