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  • Prairie Update: Doing Austerity in Saskatchewan and Manitoba

    In the Fall 2016 Monitor, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives  (CCPA)Saskatchewan’s Simon Enoch penned Getting to Know Brad, introducing Canada’s most popular premier – Brad Wall – to the country. He ran down Wall’s list of “accomplishments”. What made Simon’s analysis so interesting (and at the same time, disheartening) was…

  • Good Economy Project

    Time to rethink BC’s budget plan

    Tuesday is BC Budget day. As the province stares down the largest deficit in its history, and braces for two more years of painful spending cuts, many British Columbians are wondering if it really had to be this way. Could much of this hardship and red ink have been avoided?…

  • Climate Justice Project

    Climate damages litigation could cost Canadian oil & gas companies billions: study

    OTTAWA—Canadian oil and gas companies could be liable for billions of dollars of damages for their contribution to climate change, according a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and West Coast Environmental Law (West Coast) that analyzes scenarios in which the legal landscape concerning climate…

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    Most and least expensive cities for child care: 4 key takeaways for BC

    A new CCPA report reveals staggering disparities in parents’ experiences with child care across the country. Prices are highest in Toronto and lowest in cities in Quebec where child care is heavily subsidized by the provincial government. Cities in Manitoba and PEI, the other two provinces in Canada that set…

  • Voters reject private hospitals in Sweden

    Last summer, the Canadian media was awash with stories about how the socialist Swedes had supposedly turned their back on public ownership. Most notably, they were said to be selling their major public hospitals to corporations. Not surprisingly, researchers associated with right-wing think tanks were quick to jump on the…

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    The US election results: Brief thoughts on the unthinkable

    Having watched the US electoral horror show unfolding over several months, I’m trying to stand back from the emotional impact of the outcome, to think of some of the themes for progressive debate and research in politics and communication. What understandings are relevant to the political action that our collective…

  • Canada’s public health care system holds answers to surgery wait times

    (Ottawa) Surgical waitlists can be dramatically cut if governments develop a strategy to scale up innovations already underway in the public health care system, says a new study released today. Why Wait? Public Solutions to Cure Surgical Waitlists looks at groundbreaking projects in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario that have…

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    The election story is an addiction story

    I know I am not alone shedding tears for the story of the 2016 American election. These aren’t the tears of a campaign or game lost, or an ego wounded, nor are they tears of aloneness, because I know I am not the only one who is afraid. These tears…

  • British Columbia’s largest raw log exporters make pitch to deregulate

    Federal government would do well to resist call by Mosaic Forest Management, before opportunities to process wood in province are further compromised British Columbia’s forest industry was in trouble long before anyone had heard the name of the virus now seared into our brains.  Months before COVID-19 appeared, forest companies…

  • Fast Facts: Under-investment and over-policing: safe biking for whom?

    In Winnipeg, hundreds of tickets have been issued for cycling on the sidewalk or “failing to exercise due care”. The vast majority of these have been in central neighbourhoods where there are few safe bike routes. The huge differences in where tickets are issued – primarily in low-income and racialized…

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    Working poverty on the rise in Metro Vancouver

    Thanks to the Labour movement, we’ve made significant gains in working conditions over the years. On average, unionized employees make higher wages than non-unionized employees, and are more likely to receive health benefits and to have pension plans. But for those people working at or minimally above the minimum wage,…

  • Our recommendations for the 2017 BC Budget

    On September 22, we presented CCPA-BC research and recommendations for BC’s 2017 Budget at a public hearing as part of BC’s 2017 budget consultation process. Here’s what we told the Committee. At first glance, BC appears somewhat isolated from the economic challenges facing the rest of Canada. Headline economic indicators like…