In my May 26 blog, I forcefully advocated a cost-effective solution for when the City of Vancouver is faced with a slum landlord providing unsafe accommodations to its tenants. The solution: that the City perform all necessary repairs, then simply charge the owner for this cost by placing a lien on the property at the…
NDP-Greens’ take on pro rep: the great transformer
With the results now finally in for the Courtney-Comox riding, it’s official — Christy Clark and the provincial Liberals failed in their attempt to obtain a majority. Better yet, BC’s NDP and Greens have entered into an agreement to bring down the Liberals. If all goes according to plan, we are about to witness some…
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…
Don’t shoot the messengers
Edward Snowden is a household name — he’s a whistleblower who so profoundly upset the very powerful that he was forced to flee his home country. What we tend to forget is that in almost all bureaucracies and governments, big and small, there’s the need for anyone who sees wrongdoing in her or his workplace…
Hanging by a thread
Wow! What a night it was! And it ain’t over yet! I’ve witnessed many election night roller coasters but nothing quite like last night. I went to sleep last night dreaming of proportional representation, big money out of politics (union and business donations alike), no Kinder Morgan pipeline, no Site C dam, and no Massey…
When orange is the new green
We’re just over halfway through the provincial election campaign and the outcome is more uncertain than any previous election — more uncertain because we are no longer talking about just two parties. Let me explain. Since the collapse in 1972 of the provincial Liberal and Conservative parties in the aftermath of the Dave Barrett NDP…
Double or nothing: Garbage collection vs. city councillors?
City council salaries are in the news again! The Vancouver Courier’s Mike Howell, in one of his recent 12th and Cambie columns, notes that all city councillors but one are earning more than $100,000 per year, and that’s before any additional remuneration they collect, say, for chairing other committees such as ones tied to Metro…