In a recent blog post at Northern Public Affairs, Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox looks at the issue of ‘who gets what?’ when a mine is developed in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Here is an excerpt from the post: – The resource extractor: they pay royalties (the NWT has the lowest royalties in
Continue readingTag: gdp
The Progressive Economics Forum: Canadian Mining and Manufacturing Stumble
Statistics Canada reported today that the economy shrank in February, driven by declines in resource extraction and manufacturing. Oil and gas extraction as well as hard-rock mining decreased due to temporary shutdowns. However, the most dramatic decline was in potash production, down 19% due to mine closures in Saskatchewan. The
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: McGuinty Budget Would Cut Over 100,000 Jobs
Last week, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union released an interesting report by the Centre for Spatial Economics on the economic impact of proposed provincial budget cuts. It provides a timely reminder that the public sector is a crucial component of the economy, with public spending also supporting many private-sector jobs.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Lockouts Almost Derail GDP Growth
Statistics Canada reported today that economic growth dropped to a bare 0.1% in January. The New Year began with Rio Tinto locking out former Alcan employees at Alma, Quebec, and Caterpillar locking out former Electro Motive employees at London, Ontario. Closing these major facilities contributed to cutting growth in durable-goods
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Santa Claus Delivers a Positive Quarter Despite Corporate Scrooges
The Month: Christmas Gift Canada’s economy was buoyed by Christmas cheer as a December bounce more than offset slight declines in October and November to turn the fourth quarter positive. Unfortunately, one month does not make a trend. The key question is whether December’s strength continued into the New Year
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: GDP Turns Negative
Statistics Canada reported today that the economy shrank in November for the first time in six months. This decline was driven by reduced energy production, which partly reflected maintenance shutdowns in the oil patch and unusually mild weather. While those factors may not affect future economic growth, their ability to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada Goose Egg
This morning, Statistics Canada reported zero economic growth in October. While growth had been driven by strong mining and fossil-fuel exports during the third quarter, Canadians got a lump of coal in October. This Christmas goose egg should come as a wake-up call to economic policymakers. It follows Labour Force Surveys
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Jobs Waning, Debt Mounting, Wages Slipping: A Bleak Outlook
Here are some followup comments that supplement my last post. The emerging picture of the Canadian economy is bleak. Inscribed as every government in the Western world is in neoclassical economic policy that shapes the global economy, the blame can be easily spread around, but our own government could be
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s Petro-Recovery
Statsitics Canada released the third quarter GDP numbers today, and on the surface they seem pretty upbeat, considering all the doom and gloom lately. Headline real GDP grew at an annualized 3.5% rate. I predicted a few weeks back that there was no chance that the 3Q number would be
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: No Technical Recession, Not That It Matters
Today’s GDP numbers (a sprightly gain of 0.3% at basic prices in July) ensure that there will not be a so-called “technical recession” in Canada — at least, not yet. Economists have a perverted definition of “recession”, whereby it’s considered official only if real GDP declines 2 quarters in a row. That’s hilariously arbitrary. And […]
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Happiness, Equality and Security – The True Measures of a Society; not GDP.
The ongoing media campaign to make the economy the monofocus of our societies continues on unabated. Do almost any news search and you will see economic principles overlaid and tied to the idea that somehow they are related to how healthy and how “good” a society actually is. Economic health is but one part […]
Time to end growth?
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Canada’s economic prospects are looking good. In its latest global forecast of economic activity, this year we will have the highest GDP growth in the G7 except for Germany. We are, it appears, doing …
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: GDP Report: Awfully Weak Tea Leaves
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was unusually blunt on CTV’s Question Period yesterday, saying he was worried about the possibility of another recession. (Finance Ministers are usually very cautious about using the “r”-word, for fear that might worry consumers an dbring about a self-fulfilling prophecy.) Maybe he had already seen today’s quarterly GDP numbers from Statistics […]
Continue readingThe Better Life Index is a better measure
The search for a better measure of standard of living just got a big boost with the launch of Your Better Life Index by the OECD. The need for an alternative to the ubiquitous but misleading, if not outright dangerous, GDP is underlined when the presti…
Continue reading