Government budgets can be difficult to decipher, frustrating to understand and the details are often buried in jargon and obscure references.
UBC is here to help with a team of experts who can offer informed comment and opinion about the federal government’s 2012 budget, which is being labeled everything from an austerity budget to a manifesto on social programs.
Here is the talent lineup that UBC has available to Okanagan media for interviews both prior to the budget being delivered, and in the hours and days following:
- Ross Hickey, assistant professor, economics, Irving K. Barber school of Arts and Sciences
Hickey’s focus is in public finance and political economy; fiscal policy in government expenditure and taxation; and how policy is influenced by interactions within a hierarchy of governments (municipal, provincial and federal); elections; lobbying activity. - Alan Davidson, associate professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences
Specializing in health-care costs and decision making, Alan’s research includes privatization of health care, rural health care, comparative health policy and health and social justice issues. His recent work has concentrated on issues of equity, access to health-care services and private financing of essential health-care services. - Lorin Card, assistant professor, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (fluent in English and French)
Card can speak to investment in culture, such as music and literature, and government action plan initiatives, post-secondary funding, language-related needs and economic diversity in the Okanagan Valley. Lorin has also worked with MPs and in translation services for the National Judicial Institute.
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