Search results for “"http:/www.shutterstock.com/editorial”

  • Fast Facts: Health Care – A Timely Reminder

    Last month the Commonwealth Fund – a United States organization promoting evidence-based quality health care in that country – published a study comparing the U.S. healthcare system with that of several other industrialized countries, including Canada. Entitled “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall”, it ranked the U.S.A. system last on accessibility,…

  • Resource Economics Project (BC)

    $145 million and counting in compensation for “lost” timber

    Forest industry sweet deal In October 2005, shareholders with one of Canada’s largest forest companies got great news. As part of a plan to redistribute Crown timber, the British Columbia government paid Canadian Forest Products $62 million in taxpayer dollars for the “loss” of certain logging rights that the company…

  • Study Reveals $18.18 an Hour to be a Living Wage in Saint John

    JUNE 20, 2018 CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT (SAINT JOHN, NB)— In order to earn a living wage, a person working a full time, full year job in Saint John would need to be paid $18.18 an hour, according to a new report released today by the Human…

  • Rolling Thunder Census Review

    The sound of backlash to the government’s decision on cutting the Census long-form questionnaire continues to rumble across the country. Tuesday’s Globe and Mail published a story on the topic as well as a column by Andre Picard which was drawn primarily from the open letter on this blog. The…

  • "<a. Shell / Flickr” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-jan2017-nat-gas-giveaway-300×141.jpg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-jan2017-nat-gas-giveaway-1024×480.jpg 1024w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-jan2017-nat-gas-giveaway-768×360.jpg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-jan2017-nat-gas-giveaway.jpg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />

    BC’s natural gas giveaway: Production soars, revenues plummet

    Not long ago, BC received huge annual royalty revenues from its growing natural gas sector. The revenues were often billed as paying for essential public services like health care and education, and were appealing politically as they meant governments did not have to raise taxes to do so. The provincial…

  • End subsidies to biofuel industry, think tank urges

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA—Canada’s federal and provincial governments should end their subsidies to the biofuel industry, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The report, by Edward R. Boyle, questions whether governments can afford such expensive and wasteful subsidies in the…

  • “Commercial” hosts raking in big share of Toronto Airbnb revenue

    TORONTO – It’s supposed to be a “home sharing” platform, but a small percentage of hosts account for just under half of all Toronto Airbnb revenue, according to estimates in a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office (CCPA-Ontario). The report finds that a small percentage…

  • Photo by Pete Tuepah and Nadene Rehnby

    The fifth annual Welfare Food Challenge is coming up

    The 2016 Welfare Food Challenge—in which participants spend one week eating only what can be purchased with the money a welfare recipient receives—is coming up on October 16th. The organization behind the challenge, Raise the Rates, calculates the amount participants have to spend on food based on the expectation that welfare recipients will have…

  • 2010 Living Wage Update: Reflecting the real costs of raising a family in Metro Vancouver

    Families who work for low wages face impossible choices — buy clothing or heat the house, feed the children or pay the rent. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In many cases it means working long hours, often at two or three jobs, just to pay…

  • Beware the Canadian Austerity Model

    Europeans should shun Paul Martin’s deficit-cutting ways Paul Martin was Canada’s Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2003, and then served a short term as Prime Minister. He spoke on Canada’s  debt reduction strategy in the 1990s to a recent Public Services Summit organized by the Guardian newspaper in the…

  • November 2008: Dark Days

    How four Canadians were tortured in the “fight on terror” Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror, by Kerry Pither, Viking Canada, 460 pages, hard cover, $35.00. * * * Much has been written about four Muslim Canadians who were falsely accused of…

  • "<aNiklas Morberg / Flickr” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-dec2016-bc-higher-than-expected-surplus_Feature-300×141.jpeg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-dec2016-bc-higher-than-expected-surplus_Feature-1024×480.jpeg 1024w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-dec2016-bc-higher-than-expected-surplus_Feature-768×360.jpeg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-dec2016-bc-higher-than-expected-surplus_Feature.jpeg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />

    BC’s higher-than-expected surplus is a wasted opportunity

    BC is on track to have a massive budget surplus this year according to the November update on provincial finances. At the end of the second quarter of the fiscal year, we’re looking at a surplus of $2.24 billion. This is $300 million more than what the September budget update…