Posts by Alex Hemingway
About Alex Hemingway
Alex Hemingway is an Economist and Public Finance Policy Analyst at the CCPA’s BC Office. His work focuses on the state of public finances and services in BC, including education, health care, social programs and regulation. He also works on tax fairness—looking at the links between how our tax system is structured and the problem of growing inequality—and explores how high-quality, accessible public services can improve British Columbians’ quality of life.
Alex is currently finishing a PhD in Political Science at the University of British Columbia, where his research focuses on the relationship between economic inequality and inequality of political influence. He holds two master’s degrees from the London School of Economics (MSc Social Policy and Planning; MSc Global Politics), as well as a BA in psychology from Simon Fraser University, with a focus on evolutionary psychology and the evolution of human morality. Follow Alex on Twitter
Sep 29, 2016
My recent analysis of BC’s education funding crisis made some waves, travelling far and wide in the media and becoming one of our most-read papers of the year at CCPA-BC. Not surprisingly, it also drew critical responses that reflect some persistent myths about the funding crisis. (You can hear my conversation [at 1:41:20] with CBC’s…
View Article
Sep 1, 2016
An announcement is expected next week on a plan for the long-awaited Victoria wastewater treatment plant, which has been the subject of ongoing controversy about its need and location. But one question has received much less attention: will this roughly billion-dollar piece of infrastructure be publicly owned and controlled, or will it be handed over…
View Article
Aug 24, 2016
This spring school boards across the province experienced budget crises, raising questions about funding for elementary and high school education in BC (kindergarten through grade 12). Despite provincial government claims that education funding is “at record levels” funding has actually shrunk substantially as a share of BC’s overall economic pie, and fallen almost $1,000 per…
View Article
Jun 20, 2016
Christy Clark could be a critical swing vote in shaping the future of the Canada Pension Plan, as federal officials meet with provincial premiers in Vancouver on Monday. If a stable, secure retirement for all Canadians is the aim, our leaders should commit to boldly expanding this bedrock national pension program. Instead, BC’s provincial government…
View Article
Jun 3, 2016
A new report from the Fraser Institute declares: “Health care spending by British Columbia’s government is unsustainable.” But watchers of Canadian politics know to take that declaration with generous heap of salt, since we hear cries of “out-of-control health care spending” like clockwork from certain quarters (followed by calls for privatized, for-profit care). In fact,…
View Article
May 31, 2016
A string of revelations about tax avoidance have made headlines in recent months, from the Panama Papers, to KPMG Canada’s tax shelter business, to a local incident involving a UBC Board member who resigned after losing a tax avoidance case in BC Supreme Court. These revelations have fuelled a mix of outrage and cynicism about…
View Article
