CCPA Policy Note

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.

Women in the Canadian Economy

March 8th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 5 Comments · Children & youth, Economy, Women

Last weekend, I spoke at a community event celebrating International Women’s Day in Vancouver. It got me thinking about the status of women in the Canadian economy, reflecting both on the successes over the last half century and on the areas where work is still needed to achieve gender equality.
As a young woman in Canada, [...]

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BC’s budget deficit third smallest in Canada

March 1st, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability

Media attention may still be firmly focused on athletes and tourists today, but we’re already starting to see hints about what will dominate BC’s post-Olympics discourse.
The fear-mongering around our provincial debt and deficits is making a return

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BC’s public sector: among the smallest in the country

February 25th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Employment & labour, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance

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 the [...]

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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 BC’s [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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BC’s Urban Housing (Un)affordability

January 25th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 4 Comments · Agriculture, Environment, resources & sustainability, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare

A new study published today by the Frontier Institute for Public Policy finds that Vancouver has the most unaffordable urban housing market not just in Canada, but in all of Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

This conclusion is based on a very simple, yet effective measure of housing affordability: the [...]

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New Brunswick Plans for a $10 Minimum Wage

January 6th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 8 Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare

On January 5, New Brunswick’s provincial government announced plans to increase their minimum wage from the current $8.25 per hour to $10 over the next two years. The move has gotten surprisingly little coverage in the mainstream media out West so far, but I urge you to check out this excellent article on the Times [...]

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HST And Family Budgets

December 15th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 7 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes

A recent report from the CCPA national office analyzed the impact of tax harmonization on family budgets in Ontario.  Not a Tax Grab After All: A Second Look at Ontario’s HST made a splash with its finding that the introduction of HST will be largely a wash for Ontario families, as most households would be [...]

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Vancouver City Budget Woes: Are the Cuts Really Necessary?

December 3rd, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 6 Comments · Economy, Municipalities, Taxes

In this round of municipal budgeting, the city of Vancouver finds itself in exactly the same predicament as the federal and provincial governments faced earlier in the year – projected revenues would not be sufficient to meet their rising expenditures. The big difference is that municipal governments are prohibited by law from running a deficit.
This [...]

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