Provincial budget & finance

BC has fiscal room to make lives better

Oct 23, 2017
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Looking ahead to BC’s 2018 budget, strong public investment is needed more than ever if our province is to tackle the large and pressing problems before us. Fortunately, we have the economic and fiscal capacity to make significant reinvestments in our public sector and the critical services it provides. The government’s September Budget Update projects… View Article

Public libraries are becoming the new social safety net

Sep 28, 2017
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Public libraries in British Columbia are evolving beyond spaces of quiet contemplation, equipped with card catalogues and encyclopaedias. In a time of increased Internet use and communication via social media, the way we access knowledge and use the library is changing. We are seeing digital storytelling and inspiration labs, access to design software, e-readers and… View Article

How big is BC’s budget surplus?

Jun 21, 2017
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Some recent media commentary has taken to flights of fantasy by assuming that large personal tax increases would be needed to fund the policies contained in the NDP and Greens’ Supply and Confidence Agreement. The assumption that major tax increases would be required ignores a key starting point: large surpluses are projected in this budget… View Article

The incredible shrinking role of government in BC

Apr 25, 2017
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As BC’s political parties lay out their election platforms, media pundits tend to focus on the flurry of spending promises. But all this attention on spending makes it easy to forget that we’ve actually witnessed an incredible shrinking of government’s role in BC over the past 15 years. Unlike the strange mist that shrinks Scott… View Article

BC Budget 2017: $600 million in tax breaks for business

Mar 17, 2017
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Does the BC business sector need a tax cut? Not so much. But Budget 2017 promises to give business over $600 million in additional annual tax breaks nonetheless. That’s more than half a billion dollars annually that won’t be invested in creating affordable high-quality child care spaces, building affordable housing (as opposed to a one-off… View Article