Our Jordan Bateman gives you the heads-up on Canada’s economy shrinking, old B.C. politicians taking on their NDP successors, and Alberta rolling in money.
📉 For months, economists have been warning the Trudeau Government and Canadians that – on a per-person basis — our economy is shrinking. The politicians ignored those warnings, using record levels of immigration to make it appear that our GDP was still health and growing. Well, guess what? Even by that politically-spun metric, Canada hit the skids in Q3. The economy shrank by 1.1%, well below the consensus of economic forecasters (+0.1%) and the Bank of Canada’s forecast (+0.8%), says Desjardins. Exports, investment, falling demand, a weakening labour market: all the metrics were bad. As we head toward recession, Desjardins says it expects interest rate cuts as soon as April 2024. Millions of homeowners pray they’re right. Economist David Rosenberg concurs, saying the central bank needs to lower rates significantly to avert a severe recession, and sees the Bank of Canada cutting rates by at least 200 to 300 basis points to provide economic relief.
🏠 In British Columbia, the NDP Government was lashed by former NDP Premier Mike Harcourt and former NDP Municipal Affairs Minister Darlene Marzari for not having any nuance or ability for cities to deal with their orders to turn single family zoning into 4-6 units per lot, or put high rises near every bus loop. “These ‘one size fits all’ regulations ignore the designated network of urban centres and frequent transit development areas in this region where infrastructure, community amenities and services are in place or can be affordably provided,” they wrote. “Applying the province’s blunt policy framework would provide incentives for eight to 12 storey buildings in areas that are already congested, have heritage assets or have stable older affordable rental buildings in preference to areas where municipalities are striving to create more complete communities with diverse housing choices.”
💰 While wildfires in B.C. are blamed by the BC NDP for their wild overspending and massive budget deficit, Alberta absorbed their wildfire costs and are still on pace for a $5.5 billion surplus, according to Global News. That’s $3.2 billion more than expected, thanks to Alberta’s energy sector. Real GDP is expected to grow 2.8 per cent, in line with forecasts from the February budget, and Alberta has added 78,000 new jobs since the start of the year, including 68,000 full-time positions. Good times in the Wild Rose province!
