The idea that everyone should be able to speak freely and that citizens should have access to a broad range of viewpoints are two fundamental principles of a democracy — and never are they more important than during an election. Yet many BC non-profit groups experienced a very different reality in the lead-up to the 2009 provincial election.
Government finance
The province’s NDP government has determined that its support of a new trade and convention centre in Halifax is in the best interest of all Nova Scotians. How did it make this determination? The premier’s comments -- made at the press conference announcing this decision -- suggest that the government’s decision was based on the following notions: 1) Bigger is not just better, but necessary; that is, the current trade centre is not big enough and thus has to turn away business. 2) There will be new jobs created; that is, they claim that at least 1700 construction jobs will be created.
“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly supposed. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.”
--John Maynard Keynes
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Ideas matter greatly in determining the shape and direction of our society.
This CCPA study examines Canada's debt and deficit and finds that debt in Canada—even after two years of stimulus—is still at very low levels compared to other countries, and compared to the mid-1990s.
Big Train Coming: Does Canada Really Have a Deficit and Debt Problem? says a sharp turn to spending cuts in this fragile economic recovery and weak job market would be a huge mistake. Once the economy has recovered, the report recommends changes in taxation in order to address the small structural deficit and to meet the costs of an ageing population.
HALIFAX- The total economic cost of poverty in Nova Scotia is at least $1.5 to $2.2 billion dollars per year, accounting for between 5% - 7% of Nova Scotia’s GDP in 2008. The portion of the total cost borne by society (the social cost) is at least $500 to $650 million dollars. This corresponds to 6% - 8% of Nova Scotia’s 2007/2008 budget, or around $1,400 to $1,700 for each Nova Scotian household.
OTTAWA—Given the fragile economic recovery and the weak job market, now is not the time for a sharp turn to spending cuts, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
“It would be a huge mistake to significantly tighten the fiscal screws,” says the study’s author, economist Andrew Jackson. “While debt has risen due to the Great Recession, there will be a major human and economic cost if deficits are eliminated before a real recovery has been achieved.”
Yesterday’s Update on Economic and Fiscal Projections indicates the federal government plans to forge ahead with austerity measures despite acknowledging that Canada’s economic recovery is ‘fragile’.
In the update, the government claims Canadian jobs are almost back to where we started prior to the 2008-09 recession, leaving government with the task of eliminating its deficit.
In the policy milieu of the Maritimes, the Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is showing itself to be a crucial progressive voice, by providing a viable alternative to austerity measures that target the most vulnerable. Watch these prominent Nova Scotians and CCPA stakeholders give their account on what the CCPA-NS means to them.
http://www.youtube.com/v/TPHvCNBFDUw?fs=1&hl=en_US
On September 15, researcher Iglika Ivanova presented CCPA-BC's recommendations for the 2011 BC Budget to the legislature's Select Standing Committe on Finance and Government Services. These slides offer a brief overview of BC's current budget situation and economic outlook, and our recommendations for boosting the province's recovery from the recession.
Canadians trying to recover from the post-G20 blur have yet another worry on the horizon: the aftershock of the G20 leaders’ austerity plan.
Two years ago this fall, the G20 nations responded to the global financial meltdown with aggressive monetary stimulus and massive bank bailouts to quarantine the contagion; and a $5 trillion fiscal stimulus program to stem the economic free fall. Without this unprecedented collective action, the world would have plunged into a 1930s-style depression.