As we close out 2012, BC finds itself in some precarious economic waters. To recap, a massive housing bubble that built up through the naughties (2000s) finally burst in 2008, feeding a financial crisis, as extremely loose (some would say fraudulent) lending practices pushed housing prices up to spectacular, never-seen-before levels, and created a plague [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Economy'
State of the BC Economy
December 4th, 2012 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Energy
Tags: economic growth·Economy
BC’s Other Deficits
November 28th, 2012 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
The release of the BC Budget Second Quarterly report notes an increase in the projected budget deficit to $1.5 billion, up from $1.1 billion when the beans were first counted back in September. The growing deficit, amid a soft economy, is bound to get plenty of media attention. But this blog post is not about [...]
De-growth or growth? Maybe we don’t need to figure that out
May 16th, 2012 · Seth Klein · 4 Comments · Climate change, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability
There has recently been a renewed interest in the question of whether the ecological crisis means we need to see (or plan for) a stabilization or even a decline in economic growth. This week there is a major conference on degrowth in Montreal. York University’s Peter Victor has made important contributions to this debate in [...]
BC isn’t broke: putting teacher bargaining in perspective
March 2nd, 2012 · Iglika Ivanova · 99 Comments · Economy, Education, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
Last Monday, BC teachers held a Day of Action in communities across the province to protest the BC government’s decision to legislate a contract and put an end to their collective bargaining process. I was invited to speak to teachers at the Surrey rally, where I had the opportunity to share some of my analysis [...]
Tags: bc budget·BCTF·deficit·Economy·edacation·income inequality·inequality·teachers
The real impact of HST’s defeat on provincial finances
September 9th, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · 16 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes, Transparency & accountability
On Sept 8, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon released a much anticipated update on provincial finances. The Minster’s presentation focused on highlighting the cost of the move back to PST/GST, providing some large numbers for the media headlines, instead of looking at the big picture. In case you missed the media coverage, the provincial coffers are [...]
How much does poverty cost BC?
July 14th, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
We’ve known for a long time that we all pay for poverty. We just didn’t know how much. This is the question I investigate in my latest CCPA report The Cost of Poverty in BC. If you’re not in the mood for reading the report, you can watch a short video that summarizes the findings [...]
Tags: Economy·poverty·poverty reduction
Will the HST boost job growth and when?
July 6th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · 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 · 1 Comment · 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 [...]
The job market may be recovering but some jobs are not coming back
May 18th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · 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 · Comments Off · 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·HST·job creation·OECD·poverty·poverty reduction·working poverty
