Jean Swanson, one of the candidates in this fall’s by-election for Vancouver City Council, has recently proposed a mansion tax. Under her proposal, property taxes would be tiered in much the same way that income tax is tiered — the lower your property value, the lower your property tax rate would be. In making her…
Category: social justice
The nightmare of SRO conditions can be solved in an instant
With income assistance rates frozen for over 10 years now, welfare recipients have a very small amount available for rent. With the province of BC providing a single person on welfare with only $610 a month, SRO landlords are very limited in what they can charge for rent. So they use the low rental revenue…
Justice can prevail against all odds
In 2004 my partner Penny and I travelled to El Salvador as guests of the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, one of two of the country’s major political parties). We toured this tiny Central American country for two weeks visiting many tiny municipal councils, environmental advocacy organisations, human rights organisations, women’s groups and disability…
A positive new direction for HandyDART
As co-chair of the HandyDART Riders’ Alliance, since last October I’ve been sitting on a task force set up by TransLink. Our mandate is to advise TransLink on HandyDART issues. The creation of this task force and the appointment of many individuals from the HandyDART community to it is another indicator of the positive working…
Inspiration in the face of oppression
As I have watched with horror over the last week or so south of the border, I am not just outraged — I’m also inspired! There’s no denying the fact that President Trump is a racist, a misogynist and an outright liar. Nor can there be any denying that he is narcissistic. His executive orders…
The power of progressive consciousness
With greater and greater frequency lately, the right wing is using one-offs to move public opinion. They are using stories and anecdotes appealing to our emotions and focused on a single person or incident in an effort to stop us from making higher and better choices for all of us. A case in point —…
The passing of Fidel: A giant who contributed so much to making a better world
On Friday, November 25, the world lost one of history’s most selfless individuals. Fidel Castro passed away at the age of 90. Born into a very wealthy family, Fidel began standing up for the underdog at a surprisingly young age. His father owned a farm thousands of hectares in size and employed hundreds of poorly…