Nova Scotia Office

A new study from UNB-SJ economist Roderick Hill and CCPA-NS researcher Jason Edwards outlines why New Brunswick should move toward a more progressive tax structure.  The report, titled New Brunswick at a Crossroads: Progressive Income Tax, a Clear Choice, estimates that the province could generate another $260 million of annual revenue by reversing the Graham tax cuts and adding a new upper-income bracket.  Proposed by The Common Front for Social Justice, these changes would improve the progressivity of the province's tax system, allowing the wealthiest citizens to pay their fair share.  Download the report, here.

Edwards also published an op-ed in Saint John’s Telegraph-Journal about the disturbing trends in New Brunswick's recent public policy.  An unabridged blog version of the article can be read here.

Hundreds of students across the province came together on February 1^st for the Canadian Federation of Students' Day of Action to protest Nova Scotia’s continuing erosion of funding for higher education.  The average Nova Scotian graduate leaves university with $30,000 in accumulated debt, a number that will continue to rise with recently-announced cuts.  Tuition for some programs in the province will go up by as much as 3% next year.

Laura Penny, professor and author of multiple books, including “More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap, and Idiots Think They're Right,” spoke to the crowd of hundreds.  See Penny speak at the 4^th Annual CCPA-NS Fundraiser in October 2011, here.

In April 2011, CCPA-NS released a study entitled, “Fairness, Funding and our Collective Future: A Way Forward for Post-secondary Education in Nova Scotia.”  The authors call on the government to stop underestimating both the individual cost of pursuing a post-secondary education as well as the benefits to society as a whole.  Read their recommendations, here.

The direct cost of poverty for the PEI government is an estimated 100 million dollars per year — 7.6% of the 2009/10 PEI government budget.  When the costs to government are added to the broader costs to the economy, the total cost of poverty for the province is $315 million dollars, which is equivalent to 7.6% of Prince Edward Island’s GDP. This corresponds to $2,700 per person, per year.

Researchers Christine Saulnier and Angella MacEwan explain these numbers in a new CCPA-NS report, Cost of Poverty in Prince Edward Island (2011). 

The report was presented in PEI late last year, covered by The Guardian on December 11th, here.

The authors' most recent visit to PEI was covered by The Gaurdian on January 29th, here.