Redeye

As the climate emergency advances, we need to push for a just transition for everyone. Workers in extractive industries, and the communities that depend on them, deserve solid plans to address the negative effects of the fossil fuel wind-down. Marc Lee and Seth Klein take a look at possible models in a recent post on the CCPA blog, policynote.ca. We talk with senior economist Marc Lee.

Six years ago, the BC Civil Liberties Association made a complaint against the RCMP after it discovered that it spied on the activities of people opposed to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project. The final report of the Complaints Commission for the RCMP came out in mid-December. We talk with Jessica Magonet of the BCCLA about what the report said and why it took so long to come out.

The MST Corporation is a partnership between the Musqueam Indian Band and the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nation and it’s the developer of a big parcel of land in the Cambie corridor. Ian Mass joins us in a new edition of City Beat to tell us more about MST and to discuss other civic issues from land acknowledgements in Surrey to inappropriate tweets in Vancouver.

The global pandemic has deepened the divide between the wealthy and those struggling to make ends meet. This crisis of inequality has fostered new calls for a wealth tax. Two Ontario doctors say that healing economic inequity will lead to better health for everyone. Drs. Danyaal Raza and Edward Xie published the recent commentary, Let’s turn wealth into health with a 1% tax on the rich on healthydebate.ca. We speak with Dr. Edward Xie.

The National Trust manages historic properties and areas of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In September, the Trust commissioned a report on connections between their properties and colonialism, including links with historic slavery. The report attracted the attention of a group of Conservative MPs who are attempting to discredit the work of the historians who produced it. We speak with Professor Corinne Fowler of the University of Leicester about the work and the attacks on it.

British Columbia's energy minister says he has received a report on the status of the Site C dam project and will present its findings to cabinet soon. Bruce Ralston says the report by former deputy finance minister Peter Milburn is "helpful," but he wouldn't discuss its findings until they are reviewed by the cabinet and Premier John Horgan. We talk with Rita Wong, long-time activist and opponent of the Site C dam.

The newly released book Great Anarchists aims to bring radical ideas to a wider, non-academic audience. The book presents a series of vignettes on ten individuals who helped to lay the foundations of the anarchist tradition. We speak with co-author Ruth Kinna of Loughborough University in the UK.

As B.C. expands the safe supply program for illicit drugs, researchers are calling on the province to do the same for people living with severe alcohol dependencies. BC currently has five of Canada’s managed alcohol programs – known as MAPs. We speak with Meaghan Brown is a PhD candidate at the UVic school of nursing and collaborator on the Canadian MAP Study at the University of Victoria.

The tragic deaths of thousands of seniors in care homes has highlighted the critical need for federal standards in the provision of long-term care. The pandemic has exposed a fragmented and under-resourced system that is heavily reliant on for-profit delivery. A new discussion paper released in November proposes foundational principles for continuing care services across the country. We speak with co-author Marcy Cohen.

The vaccine rollout in Canada has given us the sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But the pandemic continues to rage, and the picture for poorer countries that aren’t first up for vaccine distribution is much bleaker. Jason Nickerson is humanitarian affairs advisor for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in Ottawa. He says equitable access can only be guaranteed through fundamental change to the way that lifesaving medicines and vaccines are developed and distributed. We spoke with Jason Nickerson on Dec 15.

In September, the Canadian government signalled its intention to develop nuclear power as part of its investment in clean technology companies. One aspect of the plan could see small modular reactors placed in remote communities currently powered by diesel. We discuss this new strategy with Susan O’Donnell of the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick.

A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives takes a look at the economic performance of coal mines located in mountain caribou habitat in northeastern British Columbia, where mining has been identified as a key driver of caribou extirpation. Economist Robyn Allan is co-author of the report, Who Benefits From Caribou Decline?

City councils around the Lower Mainland are wrapping up a busy year, full of unprecedented challenges and crises. Redeye’s City Beat reporter Ian Mass joins us to look back on the six biggest issues municipalities faced in 2020.

As countries are rolling out plans to distribute new vaccines for Covid-19, Canada has to depend on foreign corporations to produce and obtain vaccines. But that has not always been the case - Canada used to have significant capacity to develop and produce important vaccines and drugs. Health policy researcher Colleen Fuller explains how Canada lost that capacity and how it hampers our ability to create a national pharmacare program.

On November 18, the federal Conservatives convinced the NDP, Greens and the Bloc to support a motion declaring that the People’s Republic of China is threatening Canada’s national interest and its values, and Parliament needs to do something decisive about it. To talk about the significance of this resolution, we're joined by John Price, professor emeritus of Transpacific History at the University of Victoria and author of the book Orienting Canada: Race, Empire and the Transpacific.

Medea Benjamin of Code Pink for Peace condemns the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and says it’s aimed at derailing future efforts at diplomacy with Iran. She points out that, with Iran scheduled to have elections in June, incoming president Joe Biden has just four months to bring the United States back into the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. We talk with Medea Benjamin from Miami.

A group of dedicated volunteers has just launched a new podcast about the arts and mental health. When the team, led by music producer Earle Peach, got together a year ago to start planning, they had no idea how timely a mental health podcast would be in 2020. The first two episodes are up on their podcast. We speak with the host of the Art Heals Podcast, Elaine Joe. Find Art Heals at https://arthealspodcast.podbean.com/

The BC NDP say that its CleanBC plan will put the province on the path to a cleaner, better future. However, this climate strategy seems at odds with the decision by the NDP government to continue to provide subsidies to oil and gas companies in the form of tax breaks, royalty reductions and investments of public money. We talk with Kai Nagata, energy and democracy director at Dogwood.

Over 16,000 petitions were delivered to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino’s office in November calling for changes to student work permit rules before Dec 31d. Covid-19 related job losses have meant that hundreds of thousands of former international students may be unable to qualify for permanent resident status. And the deadline for renewal of work permits is fast approaching. We speak with Simran Dhunna of Migrant Students United.

In November, the federal government tabled legislation that makes net-zero emissions by 2050 a legally-binding target. While this is being seen as a positive first step, Canada has missed every single emission-reduction target it has ever set. Anna Johnston of West Coast Environment Law says that changes are needed for the law to show true climate leadership. We spoke with her last month.