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This substantive report provides all the information to emabark on a retrofit program in your municipality, from necessary legislative changes, to case studies to an overview of benefits.
The Centre for Civic Governance has been tracking developments in the Canadian European Comprehensive Trade Agreement and in particular potential impacts on municipalities. Our latest Trade and Policy Update provides information on the likelihood of increased legal and administrative costs, the threats to local decision-making and the potential for the privatization of municipal water services.
In a newly released Centre for Civic Governance poll, 67.1% of British Columbians surveyed said they would be in favour of their municipality adopting a living wage bylaw which would ensure that all directly-employed city staff, as well as staff contracted by the city to work on service contracts are paid a locally calculated living wage. This response reflects a key concern for many: the economy. When asked about issues, 32% of British Columbians expressed strong concern about the economy. While the natural environment was not top of mind, when asked specifically about whether they wanted their municipal government to take strong action on climate change 40.7% said yes.
There's good news and bad news in the latest research on climate change. The bad news is that if we fail to act, climate change will surpass our ability to put into place adaption measures. The good news is that this new research provides policymakers at all levels with more comprehensive and accurate information for taking action.
School districts in BC are caught in a Catch 22. Provincial carbon neutral measures are forcing districts to pay for carbon offsets that don't actually reduce the districts' own emissions AND drain funds from education operating budgets.
Implementing a municipal living wage policy is a way local governments can directly improve residents lives and put widely held community values into practice.
This CETA backgrounder provides information on ways in which the CETA agreement would affect local procurement policies and local jobs.
Resiliency: Cool Ideas for Locally Elected Leaders is the fifth volume in the Going for Green Leadership Series.
This substantive report provides all the information to emabark on a retrofit program in your municipality, from necessary legislative changes, to case studies to an overview of benefits.
Research from Simon Fraser University's Adaptation to Climate Change (ACT) predicts that climate change will have very serious consequences for BC communities and our natural environment.
A handful of Canadian municipalities have implemented living wage bylaws, and many more are on the verge of implementing the policy. Municipal living wage bylaws are legally enforceable policies ensuring that workers employed by a city and those contracted using municipal funds will be paid enough to meet basic family living expenses.
The Centre for Civic Governance is an initiative of the Columbia Institute.