Today’s throne speech suggests that the BC government has finally recognized the severity of the recession and the hardship it’s causing to families across the province. Unfortunately, when it comes to policy implications or what to do about the recession, the government seems to have it all backwards. Instead of presenting an ambitious stimulus plan [...]
Entries Tagged as 'deficit'
The throne speech missed the point
August 25th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 4 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Watch out for that train
May 13th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Is it too early to start talking about what happens now the election is over? Because that light at the end of the tunnel really is a train. In their February Budget the Liberals said they were going to have a $500 million deficit this year. Nobody believed them then. Marc Lee called the Budget [...]
Tags: budget·deficit·service cuts·tax cuts
BC’s economy and the Liberal platform
April 29th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · BC Election 2009, Economy, Energy, Provincial budget & finance
With my oped last week on the NDP platform making me less than popular over at NDP HQ, today the Sun published my take on the Liberals’ platform, thereby guaranteeing that the list of Christmas parties I get invited to dwindles to next to nothing. BC’s Economic Challenges and the Liberal Platform By Marc Lee [...]
Tags: carbon tax·deficit·green infrastructure·greenhouse gas·inequality·Liberals·oil and gas·platform·Port Mann·recession·transportation
Oh, about that recession …
April 27th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy
BC’s recession started in 2008. That is the upshot of today’s release of Statistics Canada’s Provincial Economic Accounts, which provides the first estimates of BC’s GDP for 2008. Unlike national data, which are provided quarterly and on a timely basis, we have to wait about four months to tally the various provincial beans. These numbers [...]
Tags: Agriculture·budget·campaign·construction·deficit·exports·fishing·forestry·mining·oil and gas·recession·service cuts
The NDP Platform and BC's Economic Challenges
April 20th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Climate change, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Below is an oped of mine that was done at the request of the Vancouver Sun and that ran in today’s paper. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the last two paragraphs were cut off, leaving the oped hanging. I put them back in below, and have requested that the online version be [...]
Tags: budget·cap-and-trade·carbon tax·deficit·flaring·green infrastructure·greenhouse gas·NDP·oil and gas·platform·recession·tax cuts·unemployment
Is the stimulus killing the P3 model?
March 27th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Privatization, P3s & public services
While BC has not formally abandoned the P3 model, there is a notable absence of new P3 projects at a time when billions of dollars are being channeled to infrastructure spending. If P3s really provided value for money and brought the benefits of private sector efficiency and innovation to the delivery of public-sector infrastructure, then [...]
Not the usual sceptics
February 22nd, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Provincial budget & finance
Scepticism about the provincial budget last week is extending beyond the usual sceptics. BC’s Credit Union Central has published its take titled “The Bandage Budget” (read here) and it is raising some questions about assumptions being presented. On the size of the possible deficit: The projected deficit in 2009/10 is small in absolute ($495 million) [...]
Tags: budget·Credit Union Central·deficit·employment·housing
BC Budget 2009: Vanilla, No Sprinkles (revised)
February 17th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Faced with a nasty recession at its doorstep, the BC budget is uninspiring and underwhelming in its ambition. Overall there is little that actively plans for a recession, preferring instead a steady-as-she-goes budget, perhaps aimed at cultivating the image of responsible economic managers in a time of crisis. There are no tax cuts or drastic [...]
"B.C. played no role in precipitating this international crisis"? Bunk.
February 11th, 2009 · Geoff Mann · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
A week ago, BC Finance Minister Colin Hansen let the cat out of the bag: the province is going to run a deficit in this year’s budget. And, as promised, two days ago the province repealed the “No More Deficits!” Balanced Budget and Ministerial Accountability Act, pushed through the legislature in 2001. Hansen’s alibi for [...]
Breaking free of the "balanced budget" chains
January 25th, 2009 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
As the next provincial budget is prepared (and election platforms are written), a core reality is this: we face huge economic uncertainty, which makes forecasting very difficult. With each passing month, economists are downgrading their GDP growth forecasts, and GDP growth (or decline) is what drives provincial revenues. In the face of this uncertainty, we [...]
