Canadian economy heading for recession

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
15,259
2,889
113
Toronto, ON
There is a slowdown and recession and has been for months.
We need to oust this guy as soon as possible and Canadians
are fixing to do just that.
Call it doom and gloom or partisan or whatever Canadians are
not a happy lot regardless and its time for this government to end

I think it will be much worse under the Lieberals. Jury still out on the NDP.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
There is a slowdown and recession and has been for months.
We need to oust this guy as soon as possible and Canadians
are fixing to do just that.
Call it doom and gloom or partisan or whatever Canadians are
not a happy lot regardless and its time for this government to end

Can't quite agree with that, Grumpy. For starters we don't know that the N.D.P. will be better and in all likelihood they could be worse. Just the procedure of changing Gov't. costs huge bucks, contractors have to be paid off for contracts that are terminated, scads of deputies have to be paid severance pay (I don't agree with that bullsh*t) but it will happen. Stationery, letter heads, desk and door signs have to be tossed and new ones made. Sussex Drive has to be renovated to suit the new Mrs. The sh*t just goes on and on. When there is an iron clad guarantee the change is for the better then I'm in favour of it. We've seen no sign of that yet.

I think it will be much worse under the Lieberals. Jury still out on the NDP.

In either case we know one thing for sure. Taxes will go up!
 

DaSleeper

Trolling Hypocrites
May 27, 2007
33,676
1,666
113
Northern Ontario,
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,817
471
83
Rachel Notley Says Iran Nuclear Deal Could Have 'Suppressing Effect' On Oil Prices
m.huffpost.com



CALGARY - Alberta Premier Rachel Notley downplayed concerns Tuesday that a lifting of Iranian sanctions would harm the province's energy sector, though experts warned the Islamic republic's nuclear agreement could result in an increase in global oil supply, thereby pushing back any recovery.

The historic deal reached between Iran and six world powers has opened the possibility that Iranian oil could again be flowing freely on world markets after increased sanctions in 2012 cut a million barrels a day from the country's exports.

Notley said it's possible the lifting of sanctions for Iran could have "a bit of a suppressing effect on oil prices for a period of time."

"Like many Albertans, we talk about oil prices much like we talk about weather. And in both cases, we're used to change," she said in a teleconference call from Quebec City, where she met earlier with Premier Philippe Couillard.

"Alberta's a province that has been built on dynamic commodity prices and we've seen oil go up, we've seen oil go down and throughout it all, we've seen the resilience of our economic infrastructure."

But Laura Lau, senior portfolio manager at Brompton Funds, said the deal could cause oil companies to scale back investment plans.

"It's definitely not good," said Lau. "I think it's difficult for any North American (oil producer), whether it be Canadian or U.S., and I think they're going to have to rethink their capital spending programs and their production growth."

Lau said she doesn't expect a significant drop in oil prices because the Iran deal had already been priced into the market, and Iranian oil won't hit global markets until at least early next year.

But she said with Iran holding millions of barrels of oil ready to be shipped, and upwards of 500,000 barrels a day of production ready to start up, projections are already showing slower oil price increases.

Iran, which holds the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves and second-largest proven gas reserves, could also ramp up production further with increased capital investments, Lau added.

Aston Hill Financial portfolio manager John Kim said the short-term effects of potential Iranian oil exports weren't a great threat to the Alberta oilpatch.

"This is a 93 million barrel a day global market, so another 400,000 is half a per cent, so it's not like it's a big number," Kim said. "But it just doesn't help the cause."

He said Saudi Arabia, which had record June production, is greater cause for concern.

"I think the bigger concern for people is that Saudi production seems to keep going up all the time," said Kim. "It doesn't seem to want to come down or even stabilize."

Notley said it's too soon to say how the Iran deal could affect Alberta's efforts to sell more of its oil to lucrative markets abroad, particularly in Asia.

"A lot of things ... are going to happen internationally that have impacts on the price of oil, both good and bad, but we know generally speaking that market access has to improve," she said.

At a local funding announcement in Toronto, federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver declined to speculate how the Iranian deal would affect oil prices, but said he was monitoring the market.

"We're dealing with a global energy market and. as you know, the price of oil is affected by supply and demand," Oliver said. "As a net exporter of energy, particularly oil, we are impacted by that, although the impact is felt unevenly across the country."

The nuclear deal with Iran announced Tuesday was negotiated by the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia.

In a statement from Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson said Canada appreciates efforts to reach the agreement, but said that Iran "continues to be a significant threat to international peace and security" and that Canada will judge Iran by its actions, not its words

Rachel Notley Says Iran Nuclear Deal Could Have 'Suppressing Effect' On Oil Prices
 

damngrumpy

Executive Branch Member
Mar 16, 2005
9,949
21
38
kelowna bc
We are already there we have been saved from nothing remember that when
you mark your ballot. Of course another Senator is in trouble and Harper has
been equated to Jesus what more can happen Harper walks on water and
brings loaves and fishes to the food band
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
117,442
14,312
113
Low Earth Orbit
Did you shift your cash to a US funds account or just take it up the hoop?

Some of us make money either way, I guess that is why BMO who keeps fear mongering has 34% of it's ETFs in US equity markets and 17% in CDN.
 
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JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
We are already there we have been saved from nothing remember that when
you mark your ballot. Of course another Senator is in trouble and Harper has
been equated to Jesus what more can happen Harper walks on water and
brings loaves and fishes to the food band

I think even Harper was embarrassed at the thought of ever having known that gal. Typical f**king Bible thumper & ignorant into the bargain! :)
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,817
471
83
The Conservatives Have Steered Canada Into a Preventable Recession | Jerry Dias
m.huffpost.com

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz didn't actually use the "R" word: recession. But his monetary policy report last Wednesday said it all the same, using numbers instead of words. By projecting that Canada's economy shrank 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2015 (following a similar decline in the first quarter), the Bank joins a growing list of others who have concluded that Canada's economy is now in recession (traditionally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth).

How far has Canada's economic star fallen? Only recently Prime Minister Stephen Harper boasted that Canada's economy was "the envy of the entire world." That claim was always overstated. Now it is downright ludicrous.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates for the second time this year, but few expect this to pull us out of the tailspin. After all, Canadians are already tapped out: household debt now exceeds 165 per cent of disposable income. And businesses are more reluctant to invest than ever -- despite expensive corporate tax cuts that drain $15 billion per year from the federal treasury. Without a strong willingness to borrow on the part of consumers or businesses, cutting interest rates is like pushing on a string.

So we must look to government for a more effective response to the recession. Unfortunately, however, that looks like another policy dead-end. Because so far the response of federal Conservatives has been as ineffectual as it is predictable: deny, point fingers, and spread fear.

Their first instinct is to deny that there's even a problem. Only ten days ago, Finance Minister Joe Oliver explicitly denied (on CBC Radio) that a recession was in the cards, and in fact continued to predict "solid growth" for Canada in 2015. In the wake of multiple weak reports on business investment, exports, retail sales, and other indicators, analysts wondered what economic planet the Finance Minister was inhabiting. Canada's economic performance has consistently lagged behind optimistic forecasts for years; now it has shifted right into reverse.

Second, when the accumulating evidence becomes too compelling to deny, the Conservatives point the finger elsewhere. Prime Minister Harper did that recently in Toronto, finally acknowledging Canada is facing a downturn, but saying "the reason for that downturn has been the downturn in the global economy." Yet the global economy is still growing (by 3.1 per cent this year, according to the Bank of Canada's most recent forecast). It's Canada's economy that is shrinking. It's hard to blame the world, when we are leading the way into negative territory.

To be sure, headlines about Greek debt restructuring and Chinese stock market volatility are worrisome. But they have not affected Canada's GDP in any measurable way. And while world oil prices are certainly a key factor in Canada's downturn, we made deliberate policy choices right here at home about how to organize our economy around world commodity markets. Government chose to forsake a more diversified, managed strategy to support innovation, investment, and exports across a broad range of value-adding industries. Instead it decided to just keep riding the oil price roller-coaster for as long as it could.

In short, this new recession, following several years of sub-par performance, is mostly self-inflicted. The government cannot evade responsibility for its decisions and actions.

Finally, the last element of the Conservatives' political response to recession is perhaps the most objectionable. They now aim to stoke fear that if any changes are made to their policy of spending austerity and misguided tax cuts, Canada's economy will be thrown into chaos. Harper, Oliver, and other Conservative ministers are now trying to capitalize politically on a recession which they themselves did so much to foster. Instead of accepting responsibility for the mess, and pledging to do better, they lash out at critics, threatening disaster if we change course.

Their claim that the coming flurry of baby bonus cheques -- a manipulative $2 billion attempt to buy votes in the coming election -- will somehow turn the economic tide, is especially insulting to our national intelligence. This pre-election giveaway is macroeconomically insignificant. Consumers are likely to save the money, anyway: they can see it's a one-time political payout, not something that really alters their budgeting. And since the end-goal of Conservative social engineering (including the baby bonus, income splitting, and other measures) is clearly to encourage stay-at-home parenting, it will in fact ultimately undermine women's labour force participation, employment, and income. It's the opposite of what the economy actually needs: support for real work, more participation, and real wages.

For years Conservatives have touted their reputation as "good economic managers" to pave their way to power. This reputation is now in tatters, and rightly so. They have squandered so much opportunity, and steered Canada into a preventable, self-inflicted recession. This country needs a dramatic change of direction.

The Conservatives Have Steered Canada Into a Preventable Recession | Jerry Dias
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
117,442
14,312
113
Low Earth Orbit
Consumers are likely to save the money, anyway
Really?

Holy f-ck, it gets better...

And since the end-goal of Conservative social engineering (including the baby bonus, income splitting, and other measures) is clearly to encourage stay-at-home parenting, it will in fact ultimately undermine women's labour force participation, employment, and income.

Flossy, you hubby will be home soon and she is bringing you a new video game.