August 12, 2008 

What are the effects of trade agreements on environmental protection? What has BC’s recent economic boom meant for part-time and casual workers? Does salvage logging prevent the “wasting” of natural resources or does it interfere with the natural functioning of ecosystems?

These are the questions answered in three publications recently published by UNBC professors.

Trade Barriers to the Public Good: Free Trade and Environmental Protection has been written by UNBC Chancellor Alex Michalos and published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. In the book, Dr. Michalos uses the case of MMT – a chemical additive from the United States originally banned by the Government of Canada – to illustrate that trade agreements undermine democratic rights and provide less protection for the public interest than Acts of Parliament.

Economics professors Fiona MacPhail and Paul Bowles surveyed casual workers in Prince George and Vancouver as part of their research for Improving the Economic Security of Casual Workers in BC, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives as part of its Economic Security Project. Drs. MacPhail and Bowles discovered that despite economic growth and the increasingly competitive job market, the number of casual workers in BC increased by 59,000 between 1997 and 2007. While BC has seen an increase in the numbers of casual workers, numbers have declined in other provinces and they suggest this may partly be the result of changes in government policy. The greatest increase in the number of casual workers was seen among women.

Phil Burton joined with colleagues in Australia and the United States to present the latest research concerning the economic and ecological costs and benefits associated with salvage logging. Published by Island Press in Washington, DC, Salvage Logging and its Ecological Consequences defines the issue and explores appropriate interventions following incidents of natural disturbance. Dr. Burton is based at UNBC and teaches in the University’s Biology and Natural Resources Management degree programs. He is also the manager of northern projects for the Canadian Forest Service’s Pacific Forestry Centre.

Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC - 250.960.5622