Canada no longer leading the G7 in economic growth

mentalfloss

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Canada no longer leading the G7 in economic growth

OTTAWA — It's going to get harder for Prime Minister Harper and his ministers to keep boasting that Canada is No. 1 among economic rivals.

As the year unfolds, analysts say it will become increasingly apparent that Canada no longer leads the G7 in economic growth and job creation. And as unlikely as it seems, it's the United States -- troubled as that country remains -- that's likely to relegate Canada to second place, if not third behind Germany.

The switch has largely already occurred, although some of the numbers are just catching up to the reality.

Last week's jobs number was the most graphic example. The score was 2,300 jobs added in Canada in January versus 243,000 in the U.S. Even allowing for population differences, that's 10 times more jobs created in relative terms.

The trend on the jobs front has been going on for some time. Despite all the bad news emanating from south of the border, employment has been rising in the U.S. at twice the rate of Canada for a year.

And U.S. economic growth as a whole is slated to outpace Canada's this year for the first time since 2006.

Canada no longer leading the G7 in economic growth | CTV News


Germany?

And an Obama led U.S. as the #1?

 
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mentalfloss

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The myth of Tory economic performance

The extent to which the Conservatives’ propaganda machine will go was illustrated last week by the news, courtesy of The Canadian Press, of the staging of a Potemkin-village-style citizenship reaffirmation ceremony.

Only three bona fide new Canadians could be found for last October’s event, so at least six federal bureaucrats suited up as imposters for the PR show broadcast by Sun TV. In a control-freak kingdom, this one – “a full North Korean,” as one wag put it – is hard to top.

News of the charade came on the heels of Stephen Harper’s proclamations in Davos on the wonders of the Canadian economy as piloted by a Finance Minister who, he said, is the greatest on Earth. The Prime Minister’s musings on the need for pension reform were reasonable enough. But his ever-soaring estimations of his economic record are starting to be challenged by many observers, as well they might be.

From 2007 to 2011, Canada’s economic performance put us in the middle of the pack in GDP growth among 34 industrialized countries. Our unemployment rate is currently rising and nearing the U.S. level. It’s true that, comparatively speaking, we’re doing well on a number of other economic indices. But given the advantages the Conservatives enjoyed when they took office – the big surplus, the well-regulated financial sector, the natural-resource-laden riches – how much of an accomplishment is it? When you start a race a lap ahead of the field, how hard is it to be among the leaders?

To talk of the Tory economic record, we might first address the reddened state of our treasury that’s occasioning the cuts in the coming budget. A pertinent question is whether our deficit is the result of natural economic factors or whether it owes itself to vote-getting political expediency.

In this context, let’s recall a few things. Let’s recall the two-point GST cut that tore a giant hole in the revenue base, accounting for a good deal of the deficit. Let’s recall the prerecession spending – having inherited a $13-billion surplus, the Harper/Flaherty team spent so excessively that we were close to a deficit by the time the recession began. Let’s recall the slashing of corporate tax rates and the government’s easing of mortgage rules and backing of risky loans that further bled the treasury.

Put it all together and what it shows is that, with more prudent fiscal management from the same guy who lectured other countries on debt in Davos, we could have coped with the recession without driving our treasury into a large deficit hole.


Some other things should be recalled. In the fall of 2008, when the economic crisis hit, was the dynamic Harper/Flaherty duo on top of things? Or were they still saying that the budget would remain in balance and that there was no need for stimulus spending, and bringing in a foolhardy budget update that almost brought their government down?

With the opposition parties putting a gun to their head, they introduced a stimulus package that virtually every other country was doing. With the exception of Tory logos on cheques and Tony Clement’s G8 spending boondoggle, it was not badly administered.

Jim Flaherty has performed more ably in the past couple of years. But what’s in his record that makes him the greatest finance minister in the world?

Given the coming squeeze the Tories talk about on health care and Old Age Security, is it smart economic management to commit a staggering $30-billion to increasingly discredited F-35 warplanes? It’s nice that, on trade diversification, the government is waking up to China. But how many years did Ottawa ignore it?

I was talking to a plugged-in guy at the Finance Department the other day and asked him what the Tories have done that’s so wonderful. “The PR,” he responded.

Hard not to agree. It’s been a great shell game. Their propaganda has masked a middling economic performance.

The myth of Tory economic performance - The Globe and Mail
 

DaSleeper

Trolling Hypocrites
May 27, 2007
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taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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All the more reason for more tax cuts and promote mineral and oil exports.

Better yet we need to build oil refineries and steel mills to create jobs and exportable goods.
 

captain morgan

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That's the catch-22 or the eco-nazis out there.

They want all of the goodies that come with the revenues and taxes, but screech like haridans the moment that there is any form of disturbance of the environment necessary to get it.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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That's the catch-22 or the eco-nazis out there.

They want all of the goodies that come with the revenues and taxes, but screech like haridans the moment that there is any form of disturbance of the environment necessary to get it.

They are not too keen on jobs outside of low paying part time ones servicing the rich either. Unless they are government jobs fleecing taxpayers.
 

Cannuck

Time Out
Feb 2, 2006
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All the more reason for more tax cuts and promote mineral and oil exports.

Better yet we need to build oil refineries and steel mills to create jobs and exportable goods.

We should not be cutting taxes until our debt is paid down. We have been fortunate that interest rates have been relatively low.
 

captain morgan

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 28, 2009
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We should not be cutting taxes until our debt is paid down. We have been fortunate that interest rates have been relatively low.

It depends on what those taxes are going towards.

I'd wager that there would be strong support for applying the funds towards the debt, however, gvt has a track record of using that cash to buy votes.
 

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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We should not be cutting taxes until our debt is paid down. We have been fortunate that interest rates have been relatively low.

Cutting corporate taxes is partly what's driving the deficit up, making it more difficult pay off national debt.

It would be nice to have a strong economy to justify lower taxes, but whatever this government is doing is not helping the situation. Americans, by comparison, are really making some headlines these days on their output.


Why job growth in U.S. is outpacing Canada

The release of Canadian and U.S. job numbers suggests Canada's economy has stalled, while its American counterpart seems to be gaining momentum.

According to figures released on Friday, the Canadian economy added only 2,300 jobs in January. In comparison, the U.S. added 243,000 jobs, the most since April and May 2010.

Canada’s unemployment rate went up 0.1 per cent to 7.6 per cent last month, whereas the U.S. rate dropped to 8.3 per cent — the lowest in three years and the fifth consecutive month that the rate has fallen.

"I think the U.S growing faster than Canada is perfectly natural," Burleton said. He pointed out that the Canadian consumer has been spending like "gangbusters" through the recession and now they’re financially fatigued, whereas the U.S. consumer has pent-up demand.

However, Canada's reliance on the U.S. economy has lessened in recent years. A third of Canadian GDP used to come from exports to the U.S., but that has dropped to 20 per cent.

Meanwhile, Burleton said Canada's numbers point to an economy that has been fighting "to keep its head above water."

"Canada’s economy has slipped into slow -growth mode, and the numbers today suggest that this carried forward into the early part of the year," he said.

While the biggest growth in jobs has come from the public sector, Burleton said, the biggest source of weakness has been the self employed – which are less stable positions and not the same quality of jobs as those in the private paid sector.

According to Statistics Canada, the sector with the biggest job gains across the country in January was the utilities industry, which includes such things as power generation, natural gas and electricity distribution, sewage treatment and water supply. Utilities saw a 4.8 per cent increase in employment from December 2011 to January 2012, although year-on-year employment was down 4.2 per cent.

Why job growth in U.S. is outpacing Canada
 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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Canada no longer leading the G7 in economic growth

OTTAWA — It's going to get harder for Prime Minister Harper and his ministers to keep boasting that Canada is No. 1 among economic rivals.

As the year unfolds, analysts say it will become increasingly apparent that Canada no longer leads the G7 in economic growth and job creation. And as unlikely as it seems, it's the United States -- troubled as that country remains -- that's likely to relegate Canada to second place, if not third behind Germany.

The switch has largely already occurred, although some of the numbers are just catching up to the reality.

Last week's jobs number was the most graphic example. The score was 2,300 jobs added in Canada in January versus 243,000 in the U.S. Even allowing for population differences, that's 10 times more jobs created in relative terms.

The trend on the jobs front has been going on for some time. Despite all the bad news emanating from south of the border, employment has been rising in the U.S. at twice the rate of Canada for a year.

And U.S. economic growth as a whole is slated to outpace Canada's this year for the first time since 2006.



Germany?

And an Obama led U.S. as the #1?

Being number one in economic growth all the time is not always a good thing. Honestly, if the goal was short-term economic growth and nothing more, the simple solution would be to cut taxes altogether, rev up government spending, lower interest rates, and maybe even print some money. Guaranteed we'd have the fastest-growing economy in no time. Only question is, how long the party would last.

Looking at it that way, being number one in economic growth ought not to be part of our economic policy. Sustainable growth is more important than being number one.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Looking at it that way, being number one in economic growth ought not to be part of our economic policy. Sustainable growth is more important than being number one.

If we cared about sustainable growth, we would build refineries instead of pipelines.
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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If we cared about sustainable growth, we would build refineries instead of pipelines.

Maybe, though it depends on the details.

For example, let's say Americans are willing to refine for a much cheaper price, then it would make sense to let them refine and we specialize in other industries.
 

Durry

House Member
May 18, 2010
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If we cared about sustainable growth, we would build refineries instead of pipelines.
There is an abundance of refining capacity in the US and there is no profit margins in refining. AND, you want to build refineries in Canada????? What an idiot!!! With people with this kind of mentality, It's no wonder Ont is on welfare payments!
 

mentalfloss

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There is an abundance of refining capacity in the US and there is no profit margins in refining. AND, you want to build refineries in Canada????? What an idiot!!! With people with this kind of mentality, It's no wonder Ont is on welfare payments!

Our own Natural Resources Chairman disagrees.

Q: The Harper government has talked about financial security tied to the pipelines by expanding markets for Canadian oil and creating jobs. Why do you think there would be more financial security if there were more oil refineries in Canada, as opposed to piping raw bitumen to the U.S.?

A: [Harper] is giving them [oil industry] billions of dollars in subsidies. How does that assure our financial security? We're giving money away and we're giving jobs away. We want to do it differently.

Building the [Northern Gateway] pipeline just creates temporary jobs. At the end of two years there are no more jobs because the pipeline is built. We should be doing more to protect jobs in Canada and create value-added jobs by upgrading refineries in Canada.

Short-term jobs are not going to help the Canadian economy in the long run. If we were to upgrade our refineries that would create a lot of jobs in Canada and that's what we want. We want to look after Canadian workers, not workers in China or the U.S.

Canada Natural Resources Vice Chairman Q&A - WSJ.com
 
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Durry

House Member
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Time you got some real facts!

The Oil Industry is not getting subsidies!!

The guy is an NDP idiot, what did you expect!!
 
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Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Time you got some real facts!!

The Oil Industry is not getting subsidies!!

The guy is an NDP idiot, what did you expect!!

A tax break to an industry that is not universally applicable to other industries is essnetially a subsidy.
 
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Durry

House Member
May 18, 2010
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People who get money because they can't pay their bills, are known to be on Welfare.
When they keep doing this year after year, they are know as "Welfare Bums" !!

Welfare bums have no credibility on money or economic matters. Their lack of knowledge on finances is what got them in the situation their in, in the first place.
Anything they say regarding money, is usually nonsense and is not even worth listening to or reading !!!