Tag Archive: deficit

Still reckless and unnecessary

Aug 27, 2009
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Gary Mason offers this summary of the past eight years in yesterday’s Globe: When B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell came to office in 2001 he unleashed a top-to-bottom review of all government agencies in an effort to bring finances in order. The result wasn’t pretty. It led to protests of all kinds from any number… View Article

The throne speech missed the point

Aug 25, 2009
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Today’s throne speech suggests that the BC government has finally recognized the severity of the recession and the hardship it’s causing to families across the province. Unfortunately, when it comes to policy implications or what to do about the recession, the government seems to have it all backwards. Instead of presenting an ambitious stimulus plan… View Article

Watch out for that train

May 13, 2009
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Is it too early to start talking about what happens now the election is over? Because that light at the end of the tunnel really is a train. In their February Budget the Liberals said they were going to have a $500 million deficit this year. Nobody believed them then. Marc Lee called the Budget… View Article

BC’s economy and the Liberal platform

Apr 29, 2009
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With my oped last week on the NDP platform making me less than popular over at NDP HQ, today the Sun published my take on the Liberals’ platform, thereby guaranteeing that the list of Christmas parties I get invited to dwindles to next to nothing. BC’s Economic Challenges and the Liberal Platform By Marc Lee… View Article

Oh, about that recession …

Apr 27, 2009
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BC’s recession started in 2008. That is the upshot of today’s release of Statistics Canada’s Provincial Economic Accounts, which provides the first estimates of BC’s GDP for 2008. Unlike national data, which are provided quarterly and on a timely basis, we have to wait about four months to tally the various provincial beans. These numbers… View Article

The NDP Platform and BC’s Economic Challenges

Apr 20, 2009
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Below is an oped of mine that was done at the request of the Vancouver Sun and that ran in today’s paper. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the last two paragraphs were cut off, leaving the oped hanging. I put them back in below, and have requested that the online version be… View Article

Is the stimulus killing the P3 model?

Mar 27, 2009
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While BC has not formally abandoned the P3 model, there is a notable absence of new P3 projects at a time when billions of dollars are being channeled to infrastructure spending. If P3s really provided value for money and brought the benefits of private sector efficiency and innovation to the delivery of public-sector infrastructure, then… View Article

Not the usual sceptics

Feb 22, 2009
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Scepticism about the provincial budget last week is extending beyond the usual sceptics. BC’s Credit Union Central has published its take titled “The Bandage Budget” (read here) and it is raising some questions about assumptions being presented. On the size of the possible deficit: The projected deficit in 2009/10 is small in absolute ($495 million)… View Article