Nova Scotia Office

Today, the provincial government is releasing its budget.  While there has been much talk about getting "back to balance," CCPA-NS has advocated for a budget that more accurately reflects the province's real fiscal situation.  Our fact sheet, "Twelve Things You Should Know about nova Scotia's Fiscal Situation," explains that the deficit and the debt aren't really urgent problems for Nova Scotia.  The province's debt-to-GDP ratio and the portion of GDP going towards debt servicing costs have declined dramatically in the last few years.

Instead of making cuts that will slow our economic recovery and jeopardize our quality of life, CCPA-NS has offered and Alternative Provincial Budget that makes targeted investments, paid for through progressive taxation, that will move the province "Forward to Fairness." 

An entire press release, "Understanding the Provincial Budget," can be found here.

"Twelve Things You Should Know about Nova Scotia's Fiscal Situation" can be downloaded here.

The Nova Scotia Alternative Budget 2012 can be downloaded here.

Read a blog post that explains the Alternative Budget by Research Associate Jason Edwards, here.

CCPA-NS brings together academics and community partners to assemble its Alternative Budget for 2012. This document shows Nova Scotians that minor changes in government spending could have a major impact on the health and wellness of its population. Putting the welfare of the province's citizens first, the NSAB projects a potentially balanced budget by 2014 without sacrificing services that Nova Scotians rely on. The NSAB's prescriptions would move Nova Scotia in the right direction: forward to fairness.

“Our budget protects programs while increasing revenues, primarily through increased upper-end income taxes. This budget does not pose a risk to the province’s delicate recovery by imposing austerity measures that will result in job losses. Rather, it continues to build our social and physical infrastructure and invest in our communities and our people where it is most needed.”

Read the full Nova Scotia Alternative Budget 2012. 

The following media outlets covered the NSAB: Global Maritimes (start at 7:00), The Cape Breton Post, The Chronicle Herald, The Canadian Press (Hosted by Ipoitics.ca), The Halifax Media Co-op, and the Halifax Media Co-op (on youth).

Accomplished author Stephen Kimber also commented on the NSAB, here.

The 2012 Nova Scotia Alternative Budget (NSAB) will be released on March 22. Please join us at the press conference where various contributors to the budget will speak.

EVENT DETAILS:

What: NS Alternative Budget Press Conference

Where: NS Legislature, Hollis St, Halifax, Nova Scotia

When: Thursday, March 22, 10:30 am

“Workers in Nova Scotia are worse off economically than they were a quarter century ago.  For the most part, this deterioration in wages happened at the same time that the economy of the province vigorously increased the wealth it generated.” 

A new report released by CCPA-NS Research Associates Kyle Buott, Larry Haiven and Judy Haiven describes these trends, and why they are happening, in detail.  Their study, titled “Labour Standards Reform in Nova Scotia: Reversing the War Against Workers,” goes on to provide prescriptions for how labour standards can be improved to move the province forward.  Read the report, here.

They also published an article in the Chronicle Herald, briefly describing the study, which can be found here.

The Chronicle Herald covered Premier Derrell Dexter's response to the study, here.

Behindthenumbers.ca contributor Jason Edwards also covered the study, and his post can be found here.

The number of migrant labourers working in Nova Scotia has doubled over the past five years.  While such rapid increases benefit the Canadian economy, they pose difficult questions for policymakers.  Recent immigrants are often  used as an exploitable working population and are significantly more likely to be among the working-poor.

Howard Ramos, Associate Professor at Dalhousie University, recently published an article on this issue asking, “Do Canadians know how increasing numbers of temporary foreign workers is changing immigration?”  Ramos thinks the issue is under-represented in public discourse, and that it will be, “important for this issue to enter the realm of public debate before Canada wakes-up to a quiet revolution in its immigration system.”  Read the article here.

In a blog post on behindthenumbers.ca, researcher Jason Edwards discussed these trends and Ramos' take on them. Read the post, here.