Search results for “site/economics of childcare”

  • Child and Family Poverty Still on Rise in Nova Scotia

    HALIFAX— Child and family poverty in Nova Scotia has increased. The most recent data reveal that 37,650 children, more than 1 in 5, were living in poverty in 2013. According to the 2015 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia, 22.5% of Nova Scotian children were living…

  • Paved with good intentions: A guide to evolving climate policies in BC

    The road to hell is paved with good intentions, an economics professor of mine used to say back in the late 1980s. Concerned about the federal government’s inability to reign in fiscal deficits, hell back then was hitting a “financial wall” where the markets would no longer lend or would…

  • Cost of F-35 fleet could reach $126 billion, report finds

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA – A report on the cost of F-35s has just been released by the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “The Plane That Ate the Canadian Military” was written by University of British Columbia political science professor Michael Byers.…

  • Fast Facts: Throne speeches put poverty on the agenda

    There was encouraging news in Manitoba’s 2015 Speech from the Throne for people working to end poverty in Manitoba. In several areas, the Manitoba government announced a commitment to invest in the social determinants of health. Make Poverty History Manitoba’s top five priorities – housing, mental health, child care, minimum…

  • Waste-to-energy incineration is both noxious and expensive

    At the “Waste-Based-Energy” industry conference in Toronto last November, the tony Yorkville hotel meeting room was filled with consultants, lawyers, company reps, and municipal bureaucrats, all talking trash: waste tonnage spread-sheets, the seeming evils of landfill sites, the supreme benefits of burning municipal solid waste (MSW) to make energy. There…

  • BC’s surplus of irony

    The Ministry of Finance’s second quarter update on the 2004/05 BC Budget deserves to be put in a museum as a wonderful example of the fine art of government spin. In case you have not seen the commercials on TV, the Ministry’s press release begins with four glowing paragraphs about…

  • Relief, cautious optimism and disappointments – lessons from the 2015 federal election

    By Seth Klein and Shannon Daub It’s only been a few days since Canadians turfed the Harper Conservatives from office. But it feels like a month’s worth of catharsis, in the form of profound relief that after almost ten years of policies harmful to the environment, public services, social cohesion…

  • Message to Britain: Don’t Follow Our Lead on Austerity

    In his column today in The Guardian, Will Hutton is the latest pundit to suggest Canada’s example from the mid 1990s is the right way to tackle austerity. Hutton’s aim is true.  He knows the current proposals for balancing the books will unleash “the needless squandering of [British] lives.”  In his…

  • Think tank mourns the loss of feminist activist Kate McInturff

    OTTAWA—The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) mourns the devastating loss of feminist researcher and scholar, Kate McInturff. CCPA staff, board and partners remember Kate as a feminist trailblazer in public policy and gender-based research. “Funny. Fearless. Unapologetically feminist. Kate was a bright light in the world, and a tireless…

  • Love and spreadsheets

    One of the most important revelations of my life came to me not when I was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. (From this I have learned one thing: cancer sucks.) No, revelation came to me in a moment, two decades ago, when I had backed myself into a very…

  • The Challenge for Progressives

    Neoliberalism a colossal failure — it mustn’t be continued Once upon a time there was a global economic crisis. It was followed by a World War. Once upon a time we realized that, if we could make that kind of a mess together, we might be able to get together…

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    Why I am excited to be appointed to the Emerging Economy Task Force

    This morning, the BC government launched its new Emerging Economy Task Force. The 14 experts who make up the task force—including myself—have been asked to provide analysis and advice on emerging trends that will shape BC’s economy and society over the coming decades. This is the first time I’ve had…