Both main parties in this election campaign are accusing the other of being big spenders. The BC Liberals claim the BC NDP is making election promises that are too expensive and argue the 1990s (the last time the NDP was in government) was a time of particularly high spending. The BC NDP points out that [...]
Iglika Ivanova’s Blog Posts
Iglika Ivanova is the Public Interest Researcher at the CCPA’s BC Office. Her work investigates issues and trends in health care, education and social programs, and examines the impact of public services on quality of life. She also looks into issues of government finance, taxation and privatization and how they relate to the accessibility and quality of public services. Iglika’s other research interests focus on the Canadian labour market and in particular trends in income inequality, low wage work and the integration of immigrants.
Reality check on government spending: is the overspending fear mongering justified
May 9th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Tags: budget·campaign·deficit·government priorities·government spending·Liberals·NDP·platform·recession·role of government·unemployment
Vancouver child poverty rate is second-highest in Canada
May 8th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare
The story of child poverty in Canada is very much an urban story. One out of every 10 children living in urban areas was poor in 2010, compared to one in 20 children living in non-urban areas. Three quarters (or 76%) of all poor children in Canada lived in one of the urban centres shown [...]
Tags: child poverty·living wage·poverty
Living wage reports reveal a big gap between actual wages and the costs of raising a family in BC
May 2nd, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Education, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes, Women
How much do working parents need to earn to be able to afford to live in our community? There reports released today provide the answer for the three largest regional districts in BC, home to 2/3 of this province’s population: $19.62/hour in Metro Vancouver, $18.73/hour in Greater Victoria and $16.37/hour in the Fraser Valley.
Are average Canadians paying too much in taxes?
April 24th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · 4 Comments · Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
On April 23, the Fraser Institute released the annual update of their misleading Consumer Tax Index report. The piece is meant to feed the anti-tax sentiment with numbers sprinkled liberally for their shock value instead of providing any meaningful analysis. Here are some of the main flaws with the report’s methodology. If what follows sounds [...]
Fairness by design: a framework for tax reform in Canada
February 14th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Taxes, Transparency & accountability
A new CCPA (National) report by Marc Lee and myself argues that Canada’s tax system needs a “fairness” overhaul and presents a framework for progressive tax reform. Those of you who have been following our tax work so far will find this study a great complement to the BC Tax Options Paper. Tax policy is [...]
Tags: carbon tax·income taxes·inequality·tax cuts·tax fairness·tax loopholes·tax reform·Taxes
BC throne speech repackages old announcements, lacks courage and vision
February 12th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Climate change, Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
Today’s Speech from the Throne reads more like a list of what this government sees as its main achievements than a true framework for going forward. New initiatives are few and far between, sandwiched between pages of self-congratulatory recap of the natural gas strategy, the jobs plan and highlights from the last budget. All in [...]
Time to Rethink The Way We Fund Higher Education
October 9th, 2012 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Children & youth, Economy, Education, Employment & labour, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
This September, like every year, a new group of high school graduates headed to college or university to pursue higher education. But today’s generation of students is in for a very different experience from the ones their parents had. On campuses across the country shiny new buildings are popping up, bearing corporate logos or the [...]
Tags: cost of education·Education·higher education·role of government·student debt·tuition·university
Cost of Learning Growing Faster than Incomes
September 11th, 2012 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Children & youth, Education, Employment & labour
A new report by the CCPA, Eduflation and the High Cost of Learning, shows that average university tuition bill in Canada has grown three times faster than inflation over the last 20 years. It’s also outpaced the growth of family incomes, making university considerably less affordable for the average Canadian family than it used to [...]
Tags: affordability·cost of education·cost of learning·Education·higher education·post-secondary education·student debt·student loans·tuition fees·university
To address health inequalities, look beyond the role of individual responsibility
August 13th, 2012 · Iglika Ivanova · 6 Comments · Health care, Poverty, inequality & welfare
A new report by the Canadian Medical Association provides a timely reminder that money buys better health, even in a country with a universal public healthcare system. A poll commissioned by the CMA found a large and increasing gap between the health status of Canadians in lower income groups (household income less than $30,000) and [...]
Tags: health·health care·inequality·poverty·social determinants of health
