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-- Residents of British Columbia: what do you think of the govt cuts?

Residents of British Columbia: what do you think of the govt cuts?

after taking some time to learn about the issues, i am still undecided.

I believe some cuts were neccesary. But others, are just cruel.

take a look at this:

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/bc/index.html

I'm still undecided though...

I might even go sign this

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/2005/petition.html

anyone got any opinions?

oh i have some thoughts on that!
i guess one of the important issues to me right now is the increase of post secondary education tuition. true, maybe the increase will not limit the access to the population, BUT, it will definately increase students debt, and i dont see any good in that. there are ppl whose debt is $50,000-60,000 right now, and that with having the tuition freeze, now imagine if it went up by 30%, that turns $50,000 into $65,000.
i was hoping that when i graduate that my debt wont be over $20,000, which i figured wont be too bad, now i dont even know if i should continue with the student loan, or take one course at a time and take 8-9 yrs to get some degree

I've paid for my tuition for the past 3 years, and will be paying for it until I graduate (another 1.5), and personally I think it's time for them to lift the tuition freeze. BC is currently the second cheapest place to study in all of Canada by a fair bit, and we're not going to move forward if we keep paying such minimal tuition. It's difficult to attract good profs up here, and keep them here in the current state, class sizes are huge, and facilities aren't as up to date as they should be. It's not like our tuition money will be going into something that won't benefit us, it will raise the level of education provided and as a result we will all benefit from it.

glad i got some interesting discussion happening..

im not too informed on this situation but contrary to the popular opinion that rates should be kept frozen, i think there's too many variables that will not allow this to happen logically...
just one point being yes, how much the government subsidizes education in bc (and in canada)
its SOOO damn easy to get a student loan, and part of it as a grant (albeit thru dishonesty sometimes)
that if you compare to the US its a joke, how much we pay for our education.

im sure ppl will disagree w/ me but im fine w/ paying my annual 1500$ or whatever the hell it is

quote:

Originally posted by dj-sean I've paid for my tuition for the past 3 years, and will be paying for it until I graduate (another 1.5), and personally I think it's time for them to lift the tuition freeze. BC is currently the second cheapest place to study in all of Canada by a fair bit, and we're not going to move forward if we keep paying such minimal tuition. It's difficult to attract good profs up here, and keep them here in the current state, class sizes are huge, and facilities aren't as up to date as they should be. It's not like our tuition money will be going into something that won't benefit us, it will raise the level of education provided and as a result we will all benefit from it.

can you trust the campbell government enough to let them lift the freeze and 'upgrade' our facilities? i know i dont. maybe if it was a more honest government. gordo hasnt been in the office for a year yet, and he's already hated by a big lot of ppl.
but i guess we cant really say anything right now until the official release of their budget, however, i have a feel its gonna cut down everywhere and the only ppl that are really gonna benefit from it are gonna be all them ministers and corporations, and i can promise you that they are not gonna do much about getting better profs (altho we have some great ones here), fixing up our colleges and universities, and doing other things for the better of BC.

we pay about $3000 a year here in BC at universities and i think around $1500-$2000 in colleges.
maybe the increase wont have much effect on annual tuition, but in the end its gonna leave a big bill to cover for a lot of students

Well, as far as education goes, i for one agree with a tuition hike. BC is one of the cheapest places in the world to get an education, and certainly the cheapest province in canada..

average tuition in BC is about $2000, in ontario, quebec, it's more like $4000. national average is about $3500.

I think it's time for the rates to go up.

and some people are protesting, saying they should come DOWN? that's crazy.

I also agree with the welfare cuts that the campbell government made. there were far too many lazy people on welfare, and i think it's good they are being made to get off of it.

however, i don't agree with how they handled the healthcare and education issues.

tuition in quebec is $2000 a year, in BC, we're paying $2500-$3000

as for welfare cuts, there are many ppl out there who are not able to get jobs for different reasons. true, there are many others who are just too lazy. BUT, i think the gov't should instead try and be more strict with ppl on welfare, not cut down on their only way to survive while prices on everything else are going up.

i just want to see wtf are they gonna do with all that money. they spent NDPs surplus in less than a year, and thats hell lot of money, now they're gonna be getting even more extra money

im just wondering... what did they spend the surplus on...?
besides fast ferries

I know what Gordon Campbell is doing is awful but he is going to turn around this province. Quite a few years back Alberta was stuggling with their econominc situation but then one premier made some tough choices and it hurt some people but look at Alberta now! Things are going very well for them. Why do you think so many BCers are moving to Alberta to get work.

As for tuition hikes I think that's bullshit, I mean you gotta pay 2000+ dollars for tuition not to mention all the other costs you have to pay.

well...

Hi,

Probably not much consolation, but living in Alberta isn't exactly peachy either. Premier Klein has done all sorts of things to screw up our public spending in an effort to rapidly pay off our provincial debt.

This includes past cuts to healthcare, education, and many other important services. He's also trying to move Alberta towards a two-tiered healthcare system, as well as pushing for rises in our healthcare premiums in the very near future.

The irony in all of this is that Alberta posted a $13 BILLION dollar surplus last year, a trend that has been present for a few years now. As a business student, I would have to suggest that such a large surplus shows very poor financial planning.

I could go on for days about this, but suffice it to say that BC isn't the only province with governmental issues.

ok, ok, look at alberta and ontario. they both offered tax cuts, blah blah blah, raised some shit here and some over ther, and the only reason why things 'worked out' for them is b/c they had new and fast growing industries popping out like mushrooms. what does BC have? the fcked up lumber dispute? cheap hollywood productions that may be packing up pretty soon for TO? the new 'special' wages for new employees? face it, BCs economy WAS not so bad, but now its not clear whats gonna happen at all, at least before we could know what to expect

quote:

Originally posted by apri_peel ok, ok, look at alberta and ontario. they both offered tax cuts, blah blah blah, raised some shit here and some over ther, and the only reason why things 'worked out' for them is b/c they had new and fast growing industries popping out like mushrooms. what does BC have? the fcked up lumber dispute? cheap hollywood productions that may be packing up pretty soon for TO? the new 'special' wages for new employees? face it, BCs economy WAS not so bad, but now its not clear whats gonna happen at all, at least before we could know what to expect

True

....

...yeah, had that "special wage" thing mentioned at the job I just started training for.

What's the point in having a minimum wage of $8.00/hr, if you can choose to only pay $6.00/hr for the first 400 hours? 400 hours can be an eternity if you're working part-time, and working full-time would take about 10 weeks to hit 400.

I find that 10 weeks figure interesting, as employers in Alberta can dismiss an employee without given cause in the first 90 days of employment. If that works the same way in BC, I could see some potential for employers to seriously abuse that lower wage situation.

As an aside, we were learning in economics that having a higher minimum wage can increase unemployment in the short run, but I'm not so sure that the 9% unemployment rate in BC stems from people in the minimum wage category. It's quite possible that a decrease in starting wage could actually cause employment to rise, as the people in the lowest wage category will have less money to spend.

Last point - I think it's pretty retarded for our Premier (Klein) to do so much of his budget cuts at a time when Alberta is booming.

quote:

tuition in quebec is $2000 a year, in BC, we're paying $2500-$3000

Just curious april_peel.. where did you get your figures?

I originally posted

quote:

average tuition in BC is about $2000, in ontario, quebec, it's more like $4000. national average is about $3500.

I got mine off BCTV news.
they said that was from UBC, and Simon Fraser University I believe.

Please understand, i'm not saying either of us is right or wrong, i just want to investigate the difference..

Re: ....

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Kibon Last point - I think it's pretty retarded for our Premier (Klein) to do so much of his budget cuts at a time when Alberta is booming.

basic macroeconomics- if the economy keeps booming (basically, an inflationary gap) what happens is you're going to have inflation eventually cuz demand goes up.. budgets cuts are basically a withdrawal from the monetary flow...therefore there is gonna be less money, ppl aren't gonna spend so much...

he's balancing it out.. so when the boom stops booming, you dont have a harsh contraction (recession)..

does that help?

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic Just curious april_peel.. where did you get your figures?

i go to SFU, my semester tuition is around $1200 ($2400/year)
i was going to apply at McGil university in montreal, tuition there is around $900-$1000 per semester for quebec residents and you're resident after living in the province for 6mth+ (~$2000/yr), it is almost the same for concorida
my friend who goes to UBC is paying around $3000 a year
however, if you go to douglas, you'll only have to pay $700-$800 for the same amount of credits

hmmm... thanks..

i think i paid like 750 or something a semester at my college..

still the point is, i think that BC has it pretty good, and tuition should go up, not down.

quote:

Originally posted by apri_peel tuition in quebec is $2000 a year, in BC, we're paying $2500-$3000 as for welfare cuts, there are many ppl out there who are not able to get jobs for different reasons. true, there are many others who are just too lazy. BUT, i think the gov't should instead try and be more strict with ppl on welfare, not cut down on their only way to survive while prices on everything else are going up. i just want to see wtf are they gonna do with all that money. they spent NDPs surplus in less than a year, and thats hell lot of money, now they're gonna be getting even more extra money

I pay apx $2,400 for my classes for 4 months because this is the way to be an international student. I will need to pay more and more from this summer.

wow... 312%.. is a lot.. totally negates my scholarship

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