Let’s face it. You can’t blame the NDP or anyone else enjoying the drubbing the Liberals are getting from Bill Vander Zalm and co. It is incredibly fun to watch. There is no question that the drubbing is well deserved. Whatever one thinks of the merits of an HST versus the PST it replaced, it [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Economy'
HST and the NDP
August 21st, 2010 · Marvin Shaffer · 3 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
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The impact of the recession on young people
August 13th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Children & youth, Economy, Employment & labour
The International Labour Organization published a report this week on world youth unemployment that seems to have some relevance here in British Columbia. The study, Global Employment Trends for Youth, outlines the devastating impact the recession has had on young people worldwide. More than 80 million people aged 15 to 24 were unemployed at the [...]
‘Prosperity’ Mine
July 30th, 2010 · Marvin Shaffer · No Comments · Economy, Energy
So there I was in Durham near Newcastle, enjoying a pint in a very historic and charming little pub called the Dun Cow (where do the Brits come up with these names). I was looking at some old photos of hard working folks coming out of the mines and couldn’t help but think of B.C.’s [...]
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Marc’s Summer Reading
July 22nd, 2010 · Marc Lee · No Comments · Agriculture, Climate change, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Recommended reading
With summer comes a lightening of my work load, so I’ve finally found some time to dive into a few interesting books. These are all related to my ongoing research interests (I do have some fiction sitting around waiting for a real holiday, with Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna at the top of the pile): The [...]
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Will the HST boost job growth and when?
July 6th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
As BC and Ontario have now started paying the HST at the till, many people may be wondering when exactly can we expect to see those jobs postings opening up. This is a good question. According to analysis commissioned by the BC government from economist Jack Mintz, titled British Columbia’s Harmonized Sales Tax: A Giant [...]
On the economic impacts of the HST
July 5th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
My previous HST post focused on the impact of the tax on households and I concluded that it’s likely that it will cost families and that some modest income families will be hurt by the tax. Is this sufficient reason to campaign for the tax to be repealed? Not necessarily. Public policy is about choices [...]
View from the Top: Income Inequality in BC
June 2nd, 2010 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare
A fascinating, and shocking, literature on the incomes at the very top of the distribution has emerged in recent years. Typically, Statistics Canada only reports income distributions for quintiles, or 20% groupings, and occasionally deciles, or 10% groupings. But new research based on tax filing has shown that the real action has been at the [...]
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The job market may be recovering but some jobs are not coming back
May 18th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Employment & labour
A recent article in The New York Times illustrates this point with the story of an unemployed administrative assistant in her 50s, who has not been able to find a job for over two years after being laid off. As the journalist explains, her difficulties are likely not the result of age discrimination, the weak [...]
Tags: Economy·employment·recovery
Job creation alone will not solve BC’s poverty problem
April 29th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
Whenever he’s confronted with questions about BC’s record high child poverty rates or by the growing income inequality in the province, our Premier maintains that the best social policy is a job. In fact, reducing the costs of doing business in BC seems to be this government’s chief economic strategy. Consider the HST, for example, [...]
Tags: Economy·job creation·OECD·poverty·poverty reduction·working poverty
B.C. Government: Truest of the Trade True Believers
April 20th, 2010 · Blair Redlin · 2 Comments · Economy
Alone amongst provinces, only B.C. failed to exempt even a single municipality or provincial agency from the recent Canada/U.S. Procurement Agreement.
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