It is pretty clear that the election-inspired promise of a debt free BC is not to be taken seriously. There is no credible market analysis indicating that the royalties from B.C. LNG exports would be sufficient to do that in 15 years, as the Premier would have it. The potential for increased gas supply from [...]
Debt Free BC?
May 4th, 2013 · Marvin Shaffer · Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Uncategorized
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Living wage reports reveal a big gap between actual wages and the costs of raising a family in BC
May 2nd, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · 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.
Why BC’s lower-wage workers are struggling: the case for stronger employment standards
April 30th, 2013 · Marjorie Griffin Cohen · Employment & labour
This is an opinion piece that I co-wrote with David Fairey, CCPA research associate, labour economist and Co-Chair of the BC Employment Standards Coalition. BC has acquired the “distinction” of being home to Canada’s largest income gap, highest poverty rate, and second highest child poverty rate. It also has greater employment insecurity and lower wages [...]
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Project Mania
April 26th, 2013 · Marvin Shaffer · Economy
One can excuse politicians in the heat of a campaign of simplifying issues and seeking out tags and slags in lieu of substantive debate. But there is no excuse for leading columnists of major newspapers, like Barbara Yaffe in her most recent attack on the BC NDP, to do the same. Yaffe raises the spectre [...]
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Are average Canadians paying too much in taxes?
April 24th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · 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 [...]
→ 4 CommentsTags: Fraser Institute·tax fairness·tax reform·Taxes
BC Office: Fact sheet on affordable housing options for seniors now available.
April 18th, 2013 · Janine Farrell · Health care, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Seniors
BC’s provincial government has said it is committed to ensuring seniors can remain in their homes and “age in place.” Yet, the lack of adequate and affordable housing in BC means many seniors are forced to choose between paying for accommodation or buying food and prescription drugs, accessing transportation or participating in their communities. The [...]
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Assessing BC’s Fiscal Health: Can BC afford more deficits?
April 17th, 2013 · Seth Klein · Economy, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
By Seth Klein and Iglika Ivanova [Note: this piece has also appeared in the Tyee here.] OK, time for a reality check on BC’s deficits. Simply put, while arguments about deficits and “who is the better fiscal manager” may make for entertaining politics, there is no compelling economic reason why BC cannot run a few [...]
Investor alert: TSX over-valued due to a “carbon bubble”
April 15th, 2013 · Marc Lee · Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability
Canada’s economic development model is on a collision course with the urgent need for global climate action. Worldwide, extreme weather events from drought to floods to powerful storms and record-breaking temperatures are making a powerful statement that climate change can no longer be denied. Hurricane Sandy, which rudely interrupted a US election in which candidates [...]
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Climate justice and BC’s political moment
April 5th, 2013 · Marc Lee · Climate change, Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
The following is based on a talk at the Bring Your Boomers election forum on April 3 at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver, the fourth in a series of intergenerational dialogues from Gen Why Media, and was co-sponsored by the CCPA, Get Your Vote On, LeadNow and Vancity credit union. I was asked to set the stage for a conversation on climate justice between [...]
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BC’s Auditor highlights big differences between the Evergreen and Canada Lines
April 4th, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · Provincial budget & finance
With all of the uproar over the British Columbia Auditor General’s report on the Pacific Carbon Trust in late March there was a second report that didn’t get as much attention as it deserves. The AG issued his report on the Evergreen Line being built through Coquitlam and Port Moody on March 28th. Compared to [...]
