Have you heard pundits say that BC’s public sector is too big or “bloated”? It’s an argument frequently used as an excuse to advocate for government spending cuts, but is it true? You may want to take a look at the numbers for yourself. The CCPA just released a short report on the size of [...]
Entries from February 25th, 2010
BC’s public sector: among the smallest in the country
February 25th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
Tags: provincial spending·public sector employment·spending cuts
Is it time to stop worrying about the economy?
February 22nd, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
If you read the papers in this province, you’d think BC had long forgotten about the recession. Every bit of economic good news is trumpeted enthusiastically, from small increases in employment to the latest growth forecast released by private sector economists. Yet economic forecasting is a notoriously difficult business. Just a year ago, we saw [...]
Tags: economic forecasting·economic growth·Economy·recession·recovery
Will the Olympics boost long-term tourism to BC?
February 15th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 21 Comments · Climate change, Economy
“We’ve invited the world, they’re coming, and the place is a mess.” That was the tag line the CCPA gave to our BC Solutions Budget back in 2004. At the time, we argued as strongly as we could that if BC was to change the story the world would tell of us this month, we [...]
Tags: Olympics
The Buy American Deal: CCPA Analysis
February 11th, 2010 · Sarah Leavitt · Comments Off · Economy
If you’re looking for an alternative perspective on the recent Buy American deal, check out Buy American Basics, a new report from the CCPA’s National Office by economist Scott Sinclair. Scott reveals why this can’t really be called a “deal” as far as Canada’s concerned. You might also want to check out CCPA Research Associate [...]
Tags: Buy American
Throne speech rather unimaginative despite talk of leading change
February 9th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Provincial budget & finance
Today’s Throne speech marks a return to the optimistic tone that is typical of the start of each session of the legislature. Sure, there are the obligatory references to financial discipline and balancing the budget, but they come at the very end of the document and are a far cry from last summer’s bare cupboard [...]
Tags: throne speech
About that Copenhagen award
February 5th, 2010 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Taxes
Back in December, during the Copenhagen negotiations, a group of environmentalists provided BC Premier Gordon Campbell with an award for climate leadership. Based primarily on the creation of a BC carbon tax two years ago, the Premier has gotten a lot of brownie points from the greens – in spite of the fact that there [...]
BC hearts Art. But only for the show off.
February 1st, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 6 Comments · Provincial budget & finance
The pedestrian stretch of Granville Street downtown has been brightened lately by a colourful display of public art projects, complete with benches for pedestrians to sit for a moment and enjoy the view. What a great idea, I thought to myself as I stopped to look at one of the sculptures. I always found Vancouver [...]
