In a new report released today by the CCPA, I revisit the important question of who really pays for university education. Convention wisdom has it that the public heavily subsidizes post-secondary education. The illusion of a subsidy comes from the fact that tuition fees, high as they are, don’t cover the entire cost of education. [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Employment & labour'
Breaking down financial barriers to higher education is more affordable than you think
January 25th, 2012 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Education, Employment & labour, Women
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The BC government could start with local purchasing to build jobs in our communities
January 3rd, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 8 Comments · Economy, Employment & labour
The BC government has been heavily promoting its “jobs plan” over the last week on television, radio and on the internet. On twitter they invited people to come on line to give their ideas about what could be done to promote more jobs in communities. But there is one idea to promote jobs in communities [...]
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Growing support for cities to adopt living wage
November 16th, 2011 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Municipalities, Poverty, inequality & welfare
New developments since my recent post calling on municipalities to lead the way on adopting living wage policies: First, over just over 100 candidates have responded to the Open Letter issued by the Living Wage for Families campaign, covering almost every Lower Mainland municipality. Almost all have expressed support for this proposal or at least [...]
Tags: living wage·Municipalities·poverty
Living Wage Policy: Why Municipal Governments should lead the way
October 25th, 2011 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
By Michael McCarthy Flynn and Seth Klein The Living Wage for Families Campaign, along with 54 organizations representing over 300,000 British Columbians, recently issued an Open Letter calling on all municipal election candidates to help low-income families in their cities by passing a Living Wage policy if they are elected (available here). Many families are [...]
The Union of BC Municipalities Convention: a potpourri of policy
October 2nd, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability, Housing & homelessness, Municipalities, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes, Transparency & accountability
For people who follow local policy issues the annual meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) is always chock-a-block with material. Last week’s meeting in Vancouver, which saw hundreds of mayors and councilors along with most of the Cabinet, much of the BC opposition and dozens of groups selling both items and ideas, was [...]
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A ‘Jobs for Jobs’ Strategy
September 23rd, 2011 · Marvin Shaffer · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Energy
It is ironic that within weeks of its much publicized report and stated concern about the upward pressures on BC Hydro rates, the government announces a job strategy that will drive up electricity rates more than anything else — more even than the self-sufficiency policy government has belatedly recognized must go. The plan for new [...]
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Are international students the key to jobs in BC
September 21st, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Education, Employment & labour
The second day of the roll out of the Premier’s jobs agenda was marked by a single announcement made at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. The focus of this piece of the jobs puzzle was ramping up international education and regional skills training. The idea of leveraging education, especially post-secondary education, to boost the economy [...]
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On Labour Day, think about unions as an equalizing force
August 31st, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Economy, Employment & labour
By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed levels of production. Those who today attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them. Martin Luther King speaking in 1961 On Labour Day 2011 unions in North America are facing historic challenges. [...]
Tags: BC Federation of Labour·CFIB·Inequality. Canadian Labour Congress·Labour Day·unions
BC’s wood trade with China may be booming – but at a price
August 11th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 4 Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability, First Nations & Aboriginal
This year, members of the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation expect to fill the holds of nine ocean freighters in Prince Rupert with raw logs from BC’s north coast – logs that will then be shipped across the Pacific Ocean to ports in China. The northern coastal Nation has been active in logging for some time, [...]
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Hochstein and the demand to cut union wages
August 8th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Municipalities, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Last week Philip Hochstein had an op-ed in the Vancouver Province accusing municipalities of profligate spending and accusing municipal workers of being vastly overpaid. Hochstein is president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association of BC – representing non union construction corporations. He is the public face of the hard right in British Columbia and has [...]
