BC FORUM News - recirculated from email from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

CCPA analyses BC Budget 2016

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives sent senior economist Iglika Ivanova and Sarah Leavitt, Media & Publications Specialist, to the BC budget lockup in Victoria where journalists, community organizations, the official opposition and others examined the budget before it was released to the public. After the lockup, Iglika did a whirlwind round of media interviews, and we shared our analysis with CCPA’s community online.

February, 2016 - Our overall assessment of the budget, as Iglika said in an interview for The Tyee, is that instead of comprehensive action on job creation, poverty reduction, housing affordability or other pressing issues, the government presented a collection of small, ineffective measures that won't make much difference for most British Columbians. For example:

• After a nine-year freeze, disability benefits are increasing by a measly $77 a month. But as Iglika notes, “We need to have increases that actually reflect the cost of living in our province. Leading the country shouldn’t just be in GDP growth, it should be about how we treat the most vulnerable among us.”

• The budget for K-12 education is practically frozen for the next 3 years.

• There are a few small measures on housing, but they are entirely aimed at home buyers.

• The government committed a small amount of funding for child care centres, essentially ignoring the child care affordability crisis.

Read more of Iglika’s analysis here: What you need to know about BC Budget 2016, Marc Lee’s analysis of housing measures here: Housing budget? Not so much, and Keith Reynold’s assessment of tax collection and spending here: Less money collected as taxes and spent on health and education.

Articles in the Globe and Mail and The Tyee also include commentary from Iglika and others on housing, MSP, funding for children in care and more. In advance of the budget, Iglika also wrote a post on BC’s job market that’s good background reading for assessing the budget, and another post on the Throne Speech and what it says about government priorities.