Fossilized Finance
How Canada’s Banks Still Enable Oil and Gas Production
Despite Canada’s climate change commitments, the country’s Big Five banks continue to finance and support expansion of fossil fuel industries, says a new Corporate Mapping Project report. The report looks at the banks’ financing of the fossil fuel sector and finds it has not only been maintained, but continues to grow.
Dentistry in Alberta
Time for a Checkup?
This report examines access to dental care in Alberta and across Canada and calls for solutions to improve population health. Alberta is the top private funder of dental care in Canada, and while it's the second highest spender on public dental care, only nine per cent of Albertans receive government-sponsored dental insurance benefits. More than 20 per cent of Albertans lack dental insurance, leading to serious implications for oral health, particularly among lower-income Albertans.
While the second scheduled review of the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (PIDA) is underway, this timely report by Cameron Hutchison, a professor of law at the University of Alberta, outlines how the current PIDA falls far short of international best practices for whistleblower protection and is laced with pitfalls through which few whistleblowers should ever dare to venture.
The assumptions underlying the federal government’s $12.6 billion commitment to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (TMX) no longer stand up in 2020, according to a new report from veteran earth scientist David Hughes. The report concludes that TMX, if completed, would be surplus to Canadian requirements and would not result in the hoped-for price premium for Canadian producers.
Privatization Pressures in Alberta Health Care
Laboratory Services, Home Care, and Telehealth Under Austerity
This report explores contemporary pressures to expand private participation in three areas of Alberta’s public health care system: diagnostic laboratory services, home care, and telehealth.
Knowledge for an Ecologically Sustainable Future?
Innovation Policy and Alberta Universities
This report traces funding from governmental and corporate sources over 20 years to document which areas of energy and environmental research have been prioritized in Alberta’s research universities.
In the Shadows
Living and Working Without Status in Alberta
This report examines the lives of undocumented migrant workers living in Alberta. It discusses the results of a research study of 32 undocumented workers, outlines the circumstances that led to their loss of status, describes their work and living conditions, and explores their reasons for staying and their hopes for the future.
The Future of Alberta's Oil Sands Industry
More Production, Less Capital, Fewer Jobs
This report explores the employment, capital spending, and operational spending implications of the ongoing restructuring and consolidation of the Canadian oil sands industry.
This report looks at whether introducing a "basic income" is an effective policy response to address the changing nature of work, including increasing employment precarity, labour market restructuring, and job loss due to automation.
Alberta's Coal Phase-Out
A Just Transition?
This report analyzes Alberta’s coal phase-out and compares the transition programs for impacted workers and communities put in place by the Notley government to the key principles of the "just transition" literature.
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