Mortgage loans in Canada declined in 2018 due to new mortgage regulations, rising rates and softening housing markets, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s first Residential Mortgage Industry Report. “Over the last year, activity in the Canadian mortgage landscape slowed after many years of strong increases, which had been driven by rising housing prices…
Governments need to be careful that benefits don’t discourage social institutions that strengthen families and communities
Parents will receive an increase in the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) this month. The program has been widely credited with reducing child poverty, yet the benefit is not without challenges. The cost-of-living adjustment boosts the maximum compensation for a child under age six to $6,639 annually and maximum compensation for children between the ages of…
Automation increases labour productivity and so raises the income levels of workers, who in turn acquire new skills to use and advance automation
Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the automation of tasks once done by humans has raised fears about machines putting humans out of work and creating mass poverty. Happily, history has repeatedly proven the doomsayers wrong. While automation has certainly led to declines in entire industries (and employment in those industries), the relationship between automation and…
International transactions in securities generated a net inflow of funds of $6.1 billion in the Canadian economy in May to total $34.2 billion in the first five months of 2019, reported Statistics Canada on Tuesday. The federal agency said foreign investors acquired $10.2 billion of Canadian securities in May, following two months of divestment. At…
Company says its two facilities have created thousands of jobs and contributed over $25 billion in capital spending to the Canadian economy
Calgary-based Cenovus says it has reached a significant milestone with one billion barrels of cumulative production from its Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands facilities in northern Alberta. It said it’s the first company to produce one billion barrels of oil using steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology. “This incredible achievement for Cenovus represents over…
Capital investment, particularly in machinery and equipment and intellectual property assets, is the major source of productivity growth and higher standards of living in developed countries.
The federal government’s recent approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is a welcome sign. It shows that the Liberal government recognizes Canada’s deteriorating investment environment, particularly in the upstream oil and gas sector (essentially, exploration and production). Unfortunately, the government has provided less evidence that it acknowledges the competitiveness problem plaguing a much broader…
Carbon tax should replace other, less efficient policies with the same objective and be offset by cuts in other taxes
Economists generally agree that imposing a price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the most efficient way to reduce them while minimizing the drawbacks associated with intervention. The devil, however, is in the details. And when you look at the details, the carbon pricing systems the federal and provincial governments of Canada have put in…
Two articles published in the Globe and Mail recently might make supporters of Canadian LNG pause and wonder whether they’re backing the right horse. Marc Lee, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), wrote an opinion column entitled “LNG’s big lie,” and a couple of days later, the Globe published a…
CPA Canada survey says protectionism and uncertainty about U.S. economy remain concerns
Canadian business leaders are more optimistic about the prospects of the Canadian economy heading into the summer, according to a new survey conducted for Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada). The CPA Canada Business Monitor found that optimism about the economy over the next 12 months is up sharply among professional accountants in leadership…
In volume terms, exports increased 4% and imports were up 1.2%, said StatsCan
Canada's merchandise trade balance with the world was in a surplus position in May for the second time since December 2016, says Statistics Canada. The federal agency reported on Wednesday that the $762-million surplus in May followed a $1.1-billion deficit in April as exports rose 4.6 per cent in May, in part due to an…
Drop in business investment from 2014 to 2017 is the most severe in at least 30 years
A study released on Wednesday by the Fraser Institute says business investment has declined in two-thirds of the non-government sectors that comprise the Canadian economy in recent years. The Private Sector Capital Expenditures in Canada: An Industry-Level Analysis report said the drop in business investment from 2014 to 2017 is the most severe in at…
China has played Canada in impressive fashion over the last six months and the meat ban is a masterful stroke
Canada is losing the food safety optics game against China. While Canada has demonstrated many times that its food safety record is outstanding – in fact, one of the best in the world – none of it matters now. Since Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, was arrested in Vancouver in December 2018 on…
The law is so full of giant holes that it could make things much worse for anyone planning a large project to improve our economy
Canada is no longer a low-risk, high-return venue for investment. The federal government has boxed itself into a corner in its attempts to square the process for reviewing and approving large mining, pipeline or other projects. It has run counter to the private sector’s desire for any such process to be clear, simple, relatively quick,…
Economic reasoning and basic statistics show that such bans are largely symbolic gestures that come with real downsides
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently proposed a federal ban on certain single-use plastics, in an effort to protect marine life and the beauty of Canadian shores. But the proposal fails to get to the root of the problem. Trudeau justified the proposal by saying, “We have a responsibility to work with our partners to reduce…
StatsCan said oil sands extraction increased 11% to take advantage of the easing of production restrictions
Canada’s real gross domestic product was up 0.3 per cent in April, following a 0.5 per cent increase in March, according to Statistics Canada. And that was helped by a boost from the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector. The federal agency reported on Friday that goods-producing industries rose 0.4 per cent, while…