You may recall that during the leaders’ debate prior to last May’s election, Gordon Campbell argued that creating jobs is the best poverty reduction strategy out there. Since his re-election, the government’s attention has been focused on the economy, while social policy has taken a back seat. But is this the best approach? A recent [...]
Entries from September 28th, 2009
Will job creation solve our poverty problems?
September 28th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Tags: Economy·employment·job creation·OECD·poverty·poverty reduction·recession·working poor
Poltergeists and P3s: They’re back
September 24th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services
In February, with the spectacular collapse of the $3 billion Port Mann Bridge public private partnership, many people thought P3s in British Columbia were a dead item. They’re back. With the Fort St. John Hospital project the government’s privatization agency, Partnerships BC (PBC), has found a way to drastically reduce private investment in P3s while [...]
Tags:
Droppin’ some HST
September 24th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
The province-wide revolt over BC’s looming Harmonized Sales Tax is reminiscent of protests a generation ago when the HST’s federal parent, the Goods and Services Tax, was born. The rationale for that shift was similar to that of the HST: to switch from an invisible tax paid by producers (the Manufacturers’ Sales Tax) that was [...]
The recent secretive, haphazard spending cuts should be repealed
September 23rd, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Children & youth, Economy, Education, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability, Women
Almost daily we wake up to news of yet another important program or initiative whose funding has been cut by the BC government. Literacy initiatives, high school sports, programs that protect women and children from violence, arts and culture: hardly an area of social service provision has been spared. These cuts have been devastating to [...]
Tags: accountability·budget·children·deficit·role of government·service cuts·Women
Piecing together the puzzle: help us track BC government cuts
September 17th, 2009 · Sarah Leavitt · 4 Comments · Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
Since winning the May election, the provincial government has been steadily cutting public services, often without any public announcement. These cuts affect services ranging from the arts to seniors’ care to public schools. They will be particularly hard on the most vulnerable members of our society. In the absence of comprehensive information from the provincial [...]
Tags: service cuts
What should our government be spending money on?
September 16th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Economy, Education, Environment, resources & sustainability, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
One question that is missing from the public debate on deficits and debt is whether we’re getting the best bang for the stimulus buck. Even if we accept that it’s appropriate for governments to borrow and engage in deficit-financing during a recession, as I have argued here, we need to have a discussion about the [...]
Tags: budget·child poverty·childcare·children·debt·deficit·Olympics·public investment·recession·role of government
That sinking feeling: BC’s forests and CO2 emissions
September 15th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Climate change, Environment, resources & sustainability
As everyone knows, BC has a lot of trees. From a climate change perspective the nice thing about trees (forests, really) is that they suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. In the jargon, forests are a “sink”, reducing CO2 emissions, rather than a “source” that contributes them. At least, that used to be the [...]
Tags: CO2 emissions·forestry
Putting our government debt in perspective (now with graphs)
September 15th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
It turns out that our province is in a good fiscal position to engage in deficit-financing at this time. BC’s debt-to GDP ratio has been decreasing since 2002, which means that out government debt fell relative to our collective ability to pay. As a result, BC entered the recession as one of the Canadian provinces [...]
Tags: deficit
Should we be afraid of the government debt?
September 15th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Governments around the world are running large deficits in order to prop up their economies and dampen the hit of the global recession. For almost a year now, economists abandoned their usual anti-deficit arguments and seemed to agree that increasing government spending to stimulate the economy is the best way forward. We were all Keynesians [...]
Tags: deficit
Out of the Closet on Site C
September 14th, 2009 · Marjorie Griffin Cohen · 4 Comments · Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
For years, successive BC governments have forbidden any new large-scale hydro dams. When I was on the BC Hydro Board of Directors in the mid-1990s, the Board passed a motion that all government land-holdings associated with Site C should be sold. The BC Hydro Board was against building Site C, or any other large dam, [...]
Tags: Bute Inlet·run-of-river·Site C
