Birth rates are collapsing, immigration is slowing and more people are leaving. That means fewer workers, weaker businesses and less prosperity Canada’s population is falling. Does it matter? It matters a great deal if we want a thriving economy, rising living standards and plentiful job opportunities. Countries rarely prosper when their populations are shrinking. People are consumers, spending their money on [...]
Advertisement
Canadian Economy
Generation Squeeze’s Home Equity Tax Will Target Struggling Seniors
on July 30th, 2024
Its assumption for proposing a home equity tax, that all homeowners are wealthy, is baseless The congregation I belong to enjoys a potluck meal after weekly services and likes to contribute to those in need in the community. When an elderly woman who looked like she really needed a meal started dropping in at lunchtime, [...]
Capital Gains Tax Undermines the Backbone of the Canadian Economy
on July 4th, 2024
The claim that the capital gains tax affects only 0.13 percent of Canadians is not true It’s hard to recall a time when capital gains taxes have drawn so much attention. Historically, changes to capital gains taxation have largely flown under the radar. However, the latest modifications are different. Starting June 25, 2024, capital gains [...]
Canada is in a Serious State of Decline
on September 9th, 2023
Canadian Economy now more Primitive than that of Bulgaria, Serbia or Panama Vaclav Smil contends he’s simply being a realist when he describes Canada’s current state as one in an ever-accelerating decline – including a likely fall from the G20. When one of the world’s leading energy thinkers “assigns” you some homework, you tend [...]
Economic Growth Coming Close to A Dead Stop by End of 2022
on July 18th, 2022
And the Trudeau government has no convincing plan to address the problem The threshold has been crossed. Canada’s largest bank, RBC Financial Group, just published a report predicting that Canada will tip into recession in early 2023. RBC’s call is unusual. Anticipating recessions is notoriously difficult. And it is uncommon for analysts at any of [...]
Bank of Canada Takes Action
on September 7th, 2017
September 6, 2017 Vancouver, B.C. – The Bank of Canada raised the target overnight rate another 25 basis points to 1.0%, making it two hikes in a row following seven years of increasing monetary stimulus. The outsized 4.5% growth in GDP in the second quarter precipitated this action, despite two offsetting factors: the recent surge in [...]
Canada’s Over-Hyped Clean-Tech Revolution
on April 14th, 2017
Elected officials are wrong to think that “clean tech” is about to reshape the Canadian economy There’s no evidence that “clean-tech” innovation is about to reshape Canada’s economy, no matter how desirable that would be. Across Canada, politicians have become bedazzled by the potential of the clean-tech sector to drive economic growth. The 2017 federal [...]
Canada Can Build Its Economy Without Outside Help
on March 22nd, 2017
Time to put trillions of dollars in Canadian savings to work kickstarting the Canadian economy and stop going cap in hand to foreign sources Over the past few weeks, both Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have travelled to the United States to drum up interest in the energy industry and [...]
Bank on Hold As Housing Expected to Continue to Slow
on January 18th, 2017
Vancouver, B.C. – It is no surprise that the Bank of Canada maintained its target overnight rate at 1/2 percent today, reaffirming its view that the Canadian economy is still operating with considerable slack despite strong employment growth and inflation remaining below the 2 percent target. The policy statement highlighted that that “uncertainty about the global outlook is undiminished, [...]
Government Housing Policies are Killing the Canadian Dream
Canada’s housing crisis wasn’t inevitable. It was built one government decision at a time It is tempting to view Canada’s housing crisis as the inevitable result of population growth, immigration, global investment and higher interest rates. Those factors matter but do not explain why some Canadian cities remain comparatively affordable while others have become among the least affordable in the world. [...]