The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies is calling on the New Brunswick government to adopt a tuition support program similar to the one offered to students with learning disabilities in Nova Scotia, according to a new report. Paul Bennett, the author of the report and the director of Schoolhouse Consulting, says there is an education "gap" in New Brunswick for students who are struggling.
A new report calls on New Brunswick to adapt a Nova Scotian program that helps students with learning disabilities or certain behavioural disorders attend school at designated private facilities. Paul Bennett, director of Schoolhouse Consulting, published a new study on Wednesday with the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). The study, "Extending the Education Lifeline: The benefits of adopting Nova Scotia's Tuition Support Program (TSP)," suggests New Brunswick should adapt this program, which helps families whose children attend specialized learning school when they can't be served at their local public school.
Radio Interview with Marco Navarro-Genie, President of AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies) suggests that the left turn of Albertans had already begun for some time.
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The flag waving and chants of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union protest were part of the latest fall out from the April 9 provincial budget. On Monday, students occupied Nova Scotia Finance Minister Diane Whalen’s constituency office to protest the removal, for one year, of the cap limiting increases universities can make to tuition. On Wednesday, film professionals and their supporters protested outside the legislature over cuts to a tax credit that sees the government refund between 50 and 65 per cent of wages paid in their industry “Bringing the province’s public sector to the Canadian average should be one of the important considerations among the several strategies the province of Nova Scotia could pursue to reduce spending,” said AIMS president Marco Navarro-Genie in a press release the day before Whalen’s April 9 budget that will eliminate 320 full time civil service positions.
Representatives of the Nova Scotia film industry are meeting again with Finance Minister Diana Whalen on Friday over changes to the province’s film tax credit, and they say they know what their goal is. Whalen has said she’s optimistic the two sides can find common ground after the provincial budget she delivered on April 9 announced drastic changes to how much support the film industry gets from the provincial government. The changes come into effect on July 1, and expenses that were once 100 per cent refundable will become 25 per cent refundable. The head of a Halifax-based think, however, believes the changes are necessary. “It seems almost surreal that in a place like Nova Scotia, one of the poorest provinces in the country, we are subsidizing the salaries of people in private enterprise to the tune of 65 per cent,” said Marco Navarro-Genie of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.
Feeding the education machine has a way of calming the waters. By investing $24.5 million more into the Nova Scotia school system, the Liberal government honoured its election commitment, placated the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, and elicited barely a peep out of the core P-12 education interests. The stakes are high going into the upcoming round of Nova Scotia teacher salary negotiations. Based upon U.S. research findings, these eight key salary provisions add up to almost 20 per cent of all primary and secondary school spending. That’s about $200 million in Nova Scotia dollars. With that mu
Global's Marieke Walsh talks to Marco Navarro-Genie of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies about the impact of cuts to the Nova Scotia film tax credit.
People in the film and television industry are planning a rally outside the Nova Scotia legislature today to protest a tax credit cut. Organizers say they will be at province house for several hours to send a message to provincial politicians over the refundable credit. The change announced by the governing Liberals will see the credit cut to $6 million from $24 million in next year’s budget. Film producers would also have access to an additional $6 million established in a fund for the creative sector.
Film tax credit cuts make sense, Halifax think tank says Not government’s job ‘to prop up businesses’ The provincial government shouldn’t back down on cuts to the Nova Scotia film tax credit, the head of a Halifax-based economic think tank said Wednesday. “The business of government is not to prop up businesses,” said Marco Navarro-Genie, president and CEO of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. “It’s to run a government.” “The real point ought to be whether government should be engaged in doling out public money to money-making industries,” he said. “It’s not government’s place.” Navarro-Genie said government shouldn’t cherry pick industries to subsidize, essentially choosing winners and losers. Instead, he said the province should tally up all the subsidies offered to industry and invest the money into an across-the-board tax cut. He said this would be more fair as it would put all industry on equal footing.