Posts by Iglika Ivanova

Iglika Ivanova

About Iglika Ivanova

Iglika Ivanova is a Senior Economist and the Public Interest Researcher at the CCPA’s BC Office. She researches and writes on key social and economic challenges facing BC and Canada, including poverty, economic insecurity and labour market shifts towards more precarious work. Iglika is Co-Director of the Understanding Precarity in BC Project (UP-BC).

Iglika also investigates issues of government finance, tax policy and privatization and how they relate to the accessibility and quality of public services. She is particularly interested in the potential for public policy to build a more just, inclusive and sustainable economy. Follow Iglika on Twitter

BC hearts Art. But only for the show off.

Feb 1, 2010
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The pedestrian stretch of Granville Street downtown has been brightened lately by a colourful display of public art projects, complete with benches for pedestrians to sit for a moment and enjoy the view. What a great idea, I thought to myself as I stopped to look at one of the sculptures. I always found Vancouver… View Article

BC’s Urban Housing (Un)affordability

Jan 25, 2010
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A new study published today by the Frontier Institute for Public Policy finds that Vancouver has the most unaffordable urban housing market not just in Canada, but in all of Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. This conclusion is based on a very simple, yet effective measure of housing affordability:… View Article

New Brunswick Plans for a $10 Minimum Wage

Jan 6, 2010
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On January 5, New Brunswick’s provincial government announced plans to increase their minimum wage from the current $8.25 per hour to $10 over the next two years. The move has gotten surprisingly little coverage in the mainstream media out West so far, but I urge you to check out this excellent article on the Times… View Article

HST And Family Budgets

Dec 15, 2009
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A recent report from the CCPA national office analyzed the impact of tax harmonization on family budgets in Ontario.  Not a Tax Grab After All: A Second Look at Ontario’s HST made a splash with its finding that the introduction of HST will be largely a wash for Ontario families, as most households would be… View Article

Vancouver City Budget Woes: Are the Cuts Really Necessary?

Dec 3, 2009
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In this round of municipal budgeting, the city of Vancouver finds itself in exactly the same predicament as the federal and provincial governments faced earlier in the year – projected revenues would not be sufficient to meet their rising expenditures. The big difference is that municipal governments are prohibited by law from running a deficit…. View Article

On minimum wages and talk radio

Nov 6, 2009
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Today marks the third time in the past four months that I get booted off a pre-arranged radio interview on minimum wages in BC. What is it about this topic that the universe doesn’t want me to say on live radio? I mean, I try not to be superstitious, but the string of coincidences is… View Article

Will job creation solve our poverty problems?

Sep 28, 2009
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You may recall that during the leaders’ debate prior to last May’s election, Gordon Campbell argued that creating jobs is the best poverty reduction strategy out there. Since his re-election, the government’s attention has been focused on the economy, while social policy has taken a back seat. But is this the best approach? A recent… View Article

The recent secretive, haphazard spending cuts should be repealed

Sep 23, 2009
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Almost daily we wake up to news of yet another important program or initiative whose funding has been cut by the BC government. Literacy initiatives, high school sports, programs that protect women and children from violence, arts and culture: hardly an area of social service provision has been spared. These cuts have been devastating to… View Article

What should our government be spending money on?

Sep 16, 2009
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One question that is missing from the public debate on deficits and debt is whether we’re getting the best bang for the stimulus buck. Even if we accept that it’s appropriate for governments to borrow and engage in deficit-financing during a recession, as I have argued here, we need to have a discussion about the… View Article