How affordable is a university education in your province?
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
September 11, 2012
A new report… tracks the affordability of university education across Canadian provinces. The study looks at trends in tuition and compulsory fees in Canada since 1990, projects fees for each province for the next four years, and examines the impact on affordability for median- and low-income families using a Cost of Learning Index.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Taxing Times
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
May 1, 2012
$38 billion – That’s how much less Canadians now pay in individual income tax compared to 2000… $19 billion – That’s how much less Canadians pay now in sales taxes compared to 2000. Since the Harper government cut the GST by two points in 2007, the average annual revenue loss to the treasury is about $12 billion… $18 billion – That’s how much less corporations pay now in Canadian taxes compared to 2000… 49.5% – Ontario’s marginal tax rate once the new tax hike on the highest income earners kicks in. In the 1950s, the ’60s and early ’70s the marginal tax rate (including federal and provincial) for this income range was 80 per cent.
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Drummond Commission report: countering cutbacks in Ontario
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
Feb. 17, 2012
In the wake of the Drummond report on reforming Ontario’s public services—which includes 362 recommended reforms to balance the books by 2018—CCPA Research Associates share their analyses… [articles by Erin Weir, Karen Foster, and Jimm Stanford].
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Minimum vs. living wage
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
June 2011
Inspired by the CCPA-BC office’s campaign to get BC employers to pay their workers a living wage (as opposed to a minimum wage that keeps working people poor), this month’s Hennessy’s Index shows that the idea is catching on… $10.25- Ontario’s minimum hourly wage. The second highest in Canada… $16.60 – Hourly wage needed in 2008 for couples with two young children living in the Greater Toronto Area to earn a living wage.
Tags: ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Better economically to spend $6 billion on infrastructure than on corporate tax cuts, says new study
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
April 19, 2011
“As a means of stimulating growth, employment and even private business spending, the historical evidence suggests the business tax cuts are both economically ineffective and distributionally regressive,” the [CCPA] report reads… The Conservatives’ proposed tax cuts will cost the federal treasury $6 billion a year… But, says Stanford, “We’d be much better off spending the $6 billion on public investment, which would ‘crowd in’ (via GDP effects) almost as much new private investment as would be stimulated by $6 billion in tax cuts.”
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Having Their Cake and Eating It Too
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
April 13, 2011
This study examines historical data on business investment and cash flow from 1961 through 2010, and, using econometric techniques, finds no evidence in the historical data that lower taxes have directly stimulated more investment. Business fixed capital spending has declined notably as a share of GDP and as a share of corporate cash flow since the early 1980s—despite repeated tax cuts that have reduced the combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate from 50% to just 29.5% in 2010.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Poverty costs PEI over $240 million a year
Friday, January 28th, 2011
January 26, 2011
It is estimated that the total cost of poverty in Prince Edward Island is at minimum between $240 and $320 million per year, which corresponds to about $1,720 and $2,265 per person, per year. These costs are calculated in The Cost of Poverty in PEI, published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS)… “in terms of the PEI economy, the cost of poverty is between 5%-7% of GDP, which is significant though similar to the estimated costs in other Canadian provinces.”
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates, Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
NAFTA Chapter 11 an increasing threat to the public good
Sunday, November 14th, 2010
November 4, 2010
All levels of government, particularly in Canada, are being targeted by investors for alleged breaches of Chapter 11, NAFTA’s investment chapter, says a new report by CCPA trade analyst Scott Sinclair… Canada has paid out NAFTA damages totaling $CAD157 million, while Mexico has paid damages of $US187 million. The U.S. has yet to lose a NAFTA chapter 11 case… “This situation has become a legal and economic minefield, with governments too often finding that the best interests of their citizens are trumped by the ability of multinationals to make profits,“ the study notes.
Tags: economy, globalization, privatization
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Now Is Not the Time For Spending Cuts: Study
Friday, November 5th, 2010
Oct 18, 2010
Given the fragile economic recovery and the weak job market, now is not the time spending cuts, argues a report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study argues 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. It warns against repeating the major spending cuts of the 1990s, which shrank social programs and public services.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology
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When will they ever learn? [healthcare costs]
Friday, October 15th, 2010
October 12, 2010
The OECD’s latest report on Canada’s economy emphasizes the challenge of rising healthcare costs… the Report’s solutions match neither its misdiagnosis as to the etiology of the healthcare cost crunch, nor a more accurate diagnosis – foregone tax revenues, the shift to chronic care from acute care, new technologies and failure to attend to the determinants of population health… the Canadian government had “extensive input” into the report. Perhaps we now know its position – make the sick pay.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, privatization, tax
Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »
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