Municipalities in Canada have been experimenting with eco-fiscal tools to collect revenues and modify behaviour, and they’re discovering that innovation is not linear. Public policy is no exception, but setbacks still contribute to improvements in efficiency.
Advocacy groups for fair banking have long derided the fees, which they say disproportionately affect low-income and vulnerable people. With rising grocery and housing prices, the fee reduction means real savings for families where every penny counts.
Use of BC Rent Banks jumped 13 per cent in just one year. Despite rising demand, no new funding has been committed beyond April 1, putting support for vulnerable renters at risk.
The U.S. withdrawal from key environmental cooperation mechanisms leaves a governance gap at a moment of escalating climate and biodiversity threats. Other countries in the Americas now have an opening to build a more resilient, region‑wide system for environmental accountability that isn’t dependent on U.S. political volatility.
Aid groups have warned of the politicization and weaponization of humanitarian response work in the Gaza Strip. Leaders in the aid sector have said that providing the Israeli authorities with a full list of aid staff working in Palestine would not only violate their right to data protection but also put them at direct risk in one of the most fatal zones for aid staff.
The latest intake of the BC Community Housing Fund would have poured more than $775 million into the province’s non-market housing sector. Despite homelessness rising in 60 per cent of BC communities surveyed, advocates also pointed to a shift in government funding that prioritizes “near-market” affordability over those that have a deep, chronic need for housing.
