Menu
Search results for: “site/economics of childcare”
-
What you need to know about BC Budget 2014
Today’s 2014 BC budget contained very little news, as expected. Despite a significantly weaker economic picture for BC than what was projected in the June 2013 Budget Update, there are no new measures to help British Columbian families struggling with economic insecurity in the weak job market. Five years after…
-
7 things that should be in this year’s BC Budget
In the fifth year of a slow and largely jobless economic recovery, the 2014 BC Budget should prioritize measures to set the foundation of a more just and sustainable economy, where prosperity is shared by all citizens. Here are 7 initiatives that will get us there. 1. A comprehensive poverty…
-
Les frais de garde d’enfants demeurent élevés au Canada: des mesures gouvernementales bien ciblées peuvent les réduire: étude
Chute de 24 % des tarifs pour les enfants d’âge scolaire à St. John’s; tarifs élevés à Toronto et peu de changement dans les autres villes ontariennes. CLIQUEZ ICI POUR CONSULTER LE RAPPORT. OTTAWA – Les frais de garde d’enfants demeurent inabordables dans la plupart des villes au Canada, selon…
-
84 doctors, health experts & economists across Canada call on BC government to show national leadership with 10 days paid sick leave
VANCOUVER—Eighty four signatories to an open letter published today say they want the BC government to show national leadership because its actions will set the bar for other provinces and territories at a time when the right to paid sick leave is more important than ever. The signatories include ER…
-
Raising Saskatchewan’s Minimum Wage
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Larry Hubich and I have the following joint op-ed in today’s Regina Leader-Post (page A10). It’s been fourteen years since I first wrote into The Leader-Post advocating a minimum-wage increase. UPDATE (August 31): The op-ed also appeared in today’s Saskatoon StarPhoenix (page A11), Wednesday’s Estevan Mercury (page A7) and Swift Current’s Southwest Booster. Why higher wages make economic…
-
Government must do more than shuffle chairs to solve BC’s water woes
British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests was always a poor choice to manage the province’s water resources—and it showed. So it was fitting in October that the government decided after years of being urged to do so to transfer that power to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. But…
-
Provincial zoning reform essential to reduce housing exclusion and displacement
Sky-high rents, ultra-low vacancy rates and fierce competition for scarce homes have become the grim but familiar picture of housing in BC, driving unaffordability, exclusion and displacement. The BC government has made major housing policy announcements in recent weeks and a key focus has been tackling chronic municipal roadblocks to…
-
The rise and fall of climate action in BC
It was a decade ago, in the February 13, 2007 Speech from the Throne, when the BC government launched into a frenzy of climate action never before seen in the province. Almost all of the BC government’s current “climate leadership” claims – so heavily promoted in a pre-election advertising spree…
-
A surplus at all costs? Balanced budget fixation hurts BC
Almost every year at budget time, BC governments of all stripes predict public coffers are going to be worse off than they’re likely truly expecting. This habit is usually portrayed as harmless or even prudent, but when the budget room available to us is systematically underestimated, it distorts the scope…
-
Happy new year—no more MSP!
It’s a brand new year, and BC’s Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums are no more. That’s great news because MSP premiums were a very unfair tax (or “regressive” as we economists like to say). In its first budget (in 2018), the current provincial government announced it would phase out MSP…
-
Why does BC have the highest poverty rate in Canada?
Statistics Canada recently released new data on the incomes of Canadians and it shows two worrisome trends continuing through the economic recovery: BC has the highest poverty rate in Canada and the highest child poverty rate (tied with Manitoba); and Ordinary families in BC haven’t had a raise since 2008…
-
Fast Facts: It’s getting great
Government investment in social housing Over the last few years, the Province of Manitoba has invested millions of dollars in renovating and providing resources in two public housing complexes in Winnipeg, Gilbert Park and Lord Selkirk Park. These investments have re-energized the two communities, and are making a positive difference…
