The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia will release a new report on Tuesday, August 28, A Sustainable Vision for our Community: Alternative Municipal Budget for the Halifax Regional Municipality.
A collaborative effort involving 20 plus individuals drawn from academia, the non-profit sector and labour organizations, the Alternative Municipal Budget is being released now well in advance of the normal budget cycle in the hopes that it will spark serious policy discussions leading up to the election campaign. It offers our Regional Council fuel for a real conversation about the services we need, and what we can afford; it offers alternative ways to pay for the services we want for ourselves and our community.
What: Press Conference and launch of the Alternative Municipal Budget for the HRM
When: Tuesday, August 28, 10 am
Where: JBO (Johanna B. Oosterveld) Centre, 2103 Gottingen Street, Halifax
Brief presentations of the report’s key recommendations will be made. Copies of the report will be available at the press conference, following which the report will be available for free download at www.policyalternatives.ca.
Join CCPA-NS and its community of supporters on October 25th for its 5th annual fund raising gala. World-renown CCPA economist, Armine Yalnizyan, will deliver an address on the current federal government's agenda of austerity. This will be a must-see for any Nova Scotian.
Purchase tickets here.
View footage of last year's keynote address, delivered by Laura Penny, here.
Canada, it’s Greek to me: Harper’s misguided austerity program
Thursday, October 25th, 2012
Italian Cultural Centre, 2629 Agricola Street, Halifax
Doors Open 6:00pm • Dinner at 6:30 • Speaker at 7:30
Ticket sales are now closed. We look forward to seeing you at the event!
More about Armine Yalnizyan:
Armine Yalnizyan, senior economist with the CCPA, is one of Canada’s leading progressive economists, widely respected for her clarity and insights on economic issues that affect people in their daily lives. Through research and journalism, Armine’s work brings real economics and real alternatives to the 99%.
Download the event poster here.
Halifax, NS – Nova Scotia Power Inc. has many people angry and galvanized, looking for alternatives. Their anger is fuelled by the seeming contradiction of a private company owning a public resource, making windfall profits, boosting its salaries to top executives into seven figures, and then asking Nova Scotians to pay even more for electricity. A new publication released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS) delves into this debate asking should power be returned to the people and what would this alternative mean for Nova Scotians.
After weighing the potential costs and benefits, the author of Power to the People?, Christopher Majka concludes that: "Balancing the objectives of affordability, public ownership, and responsible environmental stewardship might be a complex balancing act. But however complex, they are preferable to a privatized for-profit ethos, ample dividends for foreign shareholders, and escalating salaries for executives – all set against the backdrop of the province's continuing reliance on coal-powered electrical generation."
As Majka further points out, "electricity is a public resource and it should rigorously serve the public's interests, not those of a private for-profit company or those of a political administration. That's why I also recommend that should NS Power become a public utility, an arm's length Energy Council be set up to develop energy policy. Short-term political objectives should not intrude upon long-term energy policy."
Christine Saulnier, Director of CCPA-NS says of this publication: "it provides Nova Scotians with a very informative, and concise overview of how we came to be at this cross-roads today; one that sees rate-payers bracing for the seventh and eighth rate hikes since 2002, while the government struggles to implement an ambitious renewable energy program, at the same time as the private for-profit company's executives receive generous bonuses."
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Fast Fact: Power to the People can be downloaded free at: www.policyalternatives.ca.
For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Christine Saulnier at (902) 477-1252 or (902) 240-0926 (cell) or Christopher Majka directly at: (902) 425-3725.
The CCPA-NS is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice, as well as environmental sustainability.
On April 27, 2012 in Halifax, the Community Coalition to End Poverty - Nova Scotia and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - Nova Scotia Office partnered to present a lecture on Canada's public pension system.
The lecture featured economic consultant and specialist in public pension policy, Monica Townson, who explains how the Canadian pension system works, why it's considered to be in crisis, and the implications of recent changes to the system proposed by the government. Listen to the full lecture above.
The Community Coalition to End Poverty and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternaitves - Nova Scotia Office invite you to a "Lunch and Learn":
Friday, May 25, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Johanna B. Oosterveld Centre
2103 Gottingen Street, Halifax NS
Speakers:
Bring your questions, your ideas and your lunch. Coffee and tea provided.
While negotiations between Capital Health and its employees continue, health workers' rights are as prescient now as ever before. Working people have the right to bargain collectively and withdraw their labour, or strike, if they feel they are being treated unfairly. Healthcare workers must be allowed their right to strike; their ability to adequately bargain collectively actually benefits the healthcare system as a whole. With a shortage of health care workers willing to remain in the province, the system's ability to recruit and retain workers is a backdrop to any negotiations. CCPA-NS Research Associates explored these themes in a series of studies over 2007-2008.
A Tale of two Provinces: Alberta and Nova Scotia argues that strikes happen whether they are legal or not, and, like in Alberta, when they are made illegal they often grow in frequency.
Health Care Strikes: Pulling the Red Chord argues that if politicians and health care administrators insist on running a system so low on resources that it cannot handle any labour disputes, then the ability of workers to strike, to pull the red cord as it were, is an essential system mechanism to ensure quality of care in the long run.
Is Compulsory Arbitration a Good Substitute for the Right to Strike in Health Care deals with several of the most intractable problems in health care collective bargaining that make withdrawal of the right to strike especially harmful to the health care system.
Note: Since the release of these studies, Saskatchewan has introduced “essential services” legislation that reached well beyond any existing labour-relations law. In February, the legislation was struck down by the superior court as it found that workers have the constitutional right to strike and while it can be restricted, the court ruled that this legislation effectively took away employees' right to take part in meaningful strike action. The government is currently appealing the decision.
The Community Coalition to End Poverty – Nova Scotia and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia invite you to a lunch and learn:
Canada's Public Pension System:
What are the implications of proposed changes for Youth, Seniors, Workers and Low Income Women and Men in Nova Scotia?
Date: Friday, April 27, 12.30 – 2.00.p.m.
Where: Johanna B. Oosterveld Centre, 2151 Gottingen Street, Halifax NS
Speakers:
Bring your questions, your ideas and your lunch. Coffee and tea provided.
As was expected, the provincial budget released by Nova Scotia's ruling New Democratic Party is characterized by a fixation on getting “back to balance”. With a debt to-GDP ratio of 35%, there is no need to prioritize fiscal balance to the exclusion of other important needs. What is being further unbalanced in the government’s rush “back to balance”? Our rural communities are struggling against a tide of out-migration, and many people among us are struggling to make ends meet.
Persistent inequalities and inequities across our province require our government to lead the way by reframing this debate so that it is about our collective future.
For a budget that would move the province Forward to Fairness through targeted investments in Nova Scotia's future, funded by fiscally responsible progressive taxation, see our Nova Scotia Alternative Budget, which can be downloaded here.
Click the image above to see footage of CCPA-NS Executive Director, Christine Saulnier, reacting to the budget.
Read Saulnier’s blog post, “HST cut in Nova Scotia: Detracting from real debate about our future,” here.
CBC covered reactions to the budget, here.
The Chronicle Herald covered reactions to the budget, here.
The CCPA’s bold vision and creative solutions help us imagine better futures for all. Its efforts to build bridges between labour, industry, and civil society and mentor young activists lay the foundation for realizing those provocative futures. I consider my support for the CCPA an investment in a better future for British Columbia.
— Polly Ng, Next Up graduate