Canada stymied by poor competitiveness and sluggish growth

[Anonymous]

And the economic indicators in Trudeau's Canada just keep getting worse.



Canadian retail sales decline



Ottawa — Canadian retail sales plummeted unexpectedly in October, the latest in a series of disappointing economic data that analysts say could force the bank of canada to consider a rate cut.



Statistics Canada said Friday that retail trade dropped by 1.2% on lower sales of motor vehicles and parts. analysts in a reuters poll had forecast a gain of 0.5%.The Bank of Canada, which has kept its overnight interest rate unchanged for more than a year even as several of its international counterparts eased, projected a 1.3% increase in domestic fourth quarter growth in October.



Yet the growth data so far has been underwhelming, analysts said Friday. "the weakness of GDP growth in the fourth quarter will clearly concern policymakers and means that we can't completely rule out an insurance interest rate cut in the new year," said Stephen brown, a senior canada economist with capital economics.



Chances of a cut over the coming yea jumped to nearly 50% from about 25% before the data, the overnight index swaps market indicated.

I have no confidence in this country.

I'm not leaving, so I must have confidence in this country.

[Gaon]

Predictions I read for Canada for 2020 are bigger deficits, slower economic growth and reduced investment.

[Anonymous]

Predictions I read for Canada for 2020 are bigger deficits, slower economic growth and reduced investment.

I think I read that too.

[Anonymous]

Predictions I read for Canada for 2020 are bigger deficits, slower economic growth and reduced investment.

The only thing Canada has working in it's favour is a strong US market. We could headed for a home grown recession.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this will impact Canadian oil and if so, how much.



New pollution rules could affect price of Alberta crude



A new wave of cold water is about to hit Canada's much buffeted oilsands industry but whether it will be a perfect storm or a tempest in a teapot is yet to be seen.



Tighter pollution rules by the International Maritime Organization are set to take effect Jan. 1. The new guidelines, dubbed IMO 2020, will limit the sulphur content of "bunker" fuel on ships to just 0.5 per cent, down from the current 3.5 per cent.



The deadline has been in place for years, but the change is still expected to wallop prices for heavy oil containing high levels of sulphur, such as raw bitumen from the Alberta oilsands. bitumen makes up about half of Canada's 4.6 million barrels per day of crude oil production.



The discount on Western Canadian Select bitumen blend crude prices versus north american benchmark West Texas Intermediate could almost double in January, said Alan Gelder, vice-president, refining, for consultancy Wood Mackenzie.



"In October, we've got the WTI-WCS differential at about us$16 per barrel. and we've got that widening out to the high$20s in January," he said in a recent interview from London. He added the differential should moderate to about us$23 or $24 by the middle of 2020.



The price difference between WTI and WCS is a closely watched figure because it dictates oilsands profitability and royalties paid to the provincial government. When the differential widened to as much as us$52 a barrel at the end of 2018, a development blamed on pipeline capacity failing to keep up with oilsands growth, the alberta government introduced production curtailments in a successful bid to narrow the spread. The production limits have since been reduced but not cancelled.



Analyst Phil Skolnick of Eight Capital says there was little evidence of a major jump in WCS differentials pricing for January crude oil trades that started in early december.

[Anonymous]

It seems the impact on Canada's heavy oil production will not be that bad.



The impact of the new pollution rules is being softened by disruptions in the flow of competing heavy oil from Venezuela and Mexico into the U.S., as well as new petrochemical projects in Asia that need heavy oil as feedstock, he said.



"Canada is benefiting because of Venezuela, Mexico. With that, combined with the pull from these new petrochemical plants that are consuming medium and heavy oil, it's helping to offset the risks of IMO 2020," said Skolnick.



Companies that own refineries or oilsands upgraders are expected to benefit as the new standards will increase demand for refined low-sulphur fuels.



An expansion at its Lloydminster Upgrader on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border will help Calgary-based Husky Energy Inc. benefit from IMO 2020 as its diesel output will jump to 10,000 bpd from 6,000 bpd, said spokeswoman Kim Guttormson.



About 15 per cent of ships will have added "scrubbers" by then to capture sulphur from their smokestacks and allow them to continue to burn high-sulphur crude.



Full compliance is not expected on Jan. 1. Some ships will be allowed to continue to burn high-sulphur fuel by citing safety concerns about switching to new fuel blends or because their scrubbers haven't arrived yet.



Refiners are expected to be able to deliver about 1.4 million bpd of VLSFO in 2020, while demand for marine gas oil, a refined product similar to diesel, is expected to jump to about one million bpd in 2020 and gradually grow to about 2.4 million bpd.



The new fuel standard could eventually boost demand for liquefied natural gas, with Wood Mackenzie forecasting 22 million tonnes per year of LNG demand from shipping by 2030.



The high cost of switching to LNG means it will likely only be installed on new ships, said Gelder.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

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They seldom call it a new tax or a tax increase.

[Anonymous]

If it wasn't for my farm, I would leave Canada. Progs have put this country on the road to being another Argentina.



Canada is on an economic road to nowhere

The Liberals spent five years pandering to environmental, regional or anti-capitalist interests. Now in a minority position, the situation will worsen



https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-canada-is-on-an-economic-road-to-nowhere?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2kGNIRvVtxJkQAyxeVshdyBIeEqToS_WXGccCMyU675jQyaOSUcwCiPJ4#Echobox=1578407021">https://business.financialpost.com/dian ... 1578407021">https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-canada-is-on-an-economic-road-to-nowhere?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2kGNIRvVtxJkQAyxeVshdyBIeEqToS_WXGccCMyU675jQyaOSUcwCiPJ4#Echobox=1578407021

Who's going to look after Canada's economic wellbeing for the next five years? Canada slips and there's nobody to catch it, not Parliament or other levels of government. The Liberals spent five years variously pandering to environmental, regional or anti-capitalist interests. Now in a minority position, the situation will worsen.



The Liberals have adopted a soak-the-rich taxation approach and swallowed whole the green's concocted "Climate Change Emergency." As a result, Canada has missed out on what The Economist labelled the recent, half-decade global "jobs boom."



Since 2015, median income has increased only $38 a year under the Trudeau regime, compared with $428 a year increases under Prime Minister Stephen Harper (even though he had to steer through the financial meltdown.) Consumer debt has become the highest in the G7, because Ottawa has not cracked down on illicit capital flows into condos in Toronto and Vancouver, which has helped drive housing prices to excessive levels.



The private sector is embattled. In 2019, the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" report found that it takes 249 days to obtain all the necessary permits to build a new warehouse in Canada — 160 days more than in the United States, the only country Canada really competes against for capital.



And how long does it take to obtain a permit to build needed infrastructure? Ask Kinder Morgan and hundreds of other corporations who have left because impediments turned into all-out obstructions.



Overall, the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" report ranked Canada 23rd out of 190 countries, but this has fallen from fourth in 2006. Meanwhile, New Zealand is first; Singapore second, and the United States ranks sixth.



Canada ranked 64th in getting permits and the U.S. 24th; Canada ranked 124th in providing electricity to businesses and the U.S. 64th; and Canada ranked 100th in enforcing contracts and the U.S. 17th.



Other job-killers include anti-resource development laws (C-48 and C-69); the NGO and the federal government war against fossil fuels and mining; and interventionist labour laws, red tape, and excessive "green" energy regulations. Last year, the country's biggest export sectors were slammed. General Motors shuttered operations in Oshawa, forestry laid off thousands, and Alberta lost thousands of oil-related jobs.



Among the 34 OECD (Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development) members, Canada has the highest regulatory burden and the lowest investments in machinery, equipment, and intellectual patents.



Interprovincial trade barriers worsen. British Columbia should not be able to block oil pipelines just as Quebec should not have been able to block transmission lines from Atlantic Canada. Recently, after years, a natural gas pipeline route had to be approved — in order to bypass Quebec via the U.S. — to deliver Alberta natural gas to a Nova Scotia LNG project.



Regulators, special interests, and politicians did not hoist this country into the economic big leagues and the G7. Business, entrepreneurs and opportunities did. Now, in GDP terms, Canada is behind India and Brazil in size and will soon be overtaken by Russia and South Korea.



It's all very tragic given Canada's track record, potential and talent. In the absence of smart economic leadership, Canada will become a road to nowhere.

[Anonymous]

The economic path that Trudeau has us on is unsustainable unless we accept much lower living standards.

[Thiel]

As Herman's article indicated, the anti growth trajectory Ottawa has us on will have long term, perhaps irreversible consequences if we don't change course. That will likely require a Conservative majority as I don't see any replacement for Trudeau breaking with his policies.

[Anonymous]

Canada's combined federal-provincial debt will reach $1.5 trillion in 2019/20, Ontario debt highest among provinces

https://canadafreepress.com/images/uploads/fraser011620.jpg">

https://canadafreepress.com/article/canadas-combined-federal-provincial-debt-will-reach-1.5-trillion-in-2019-20?fbclid=IwAR2rfZwLCcGCacDtj3pH85Qr-eK8KrCgi4oR_SeR-VCq5c0P9VLBGgeEa80">https://canadafreepress.com/article/can ... VLBGgeEa80">https://canadafreepress.com/article/canadas-combined-federal-provincial-debt-will-reach-1.5-trillion-in-2019-20?fbclid=IwAR2rfZwLCcGCacDtj3pH85Qr-eK8KrCgi4oR_SeR-VCq5c0P9VLBGgeEa80

[Anonymous]

Make no mistake, Ottawa picks winners and props them up with our tax dollars for strictly selfish political purposes. They preferred companies are always in Quebec and Ontario.



By Candace Malcolm of Sun News Media



Partnering with gov't not a good idea



The government should not pick winners and losers in the economy.



For as long as I've been following politics and public policy, I've heard this phrase emphasized and repeated — especially in fiscally conservative and libertarian circles.



The idea is that the free market should determine which businesses succeed — based on pricing, how well they serve their customers, and so on — and the government should not be in the business of subsidizing businesses.



The underlying idea is that if a company receives a government handout, they have an unfair advantage over their competitors.



In Canada, in practice, however, the opposite is true.



Look at Bombardier Inc., the Montreal-based aerospace manufacturing company.



In 2017, the Trudeau government bailed out Bombardier with a $373-million federal loan. at the same time, the Liberal government in Quebec also provided a taxpayer-funded bailout to the tune of $1 billion.



But Bombardier is anything but a winner. about 18 months after receiving bailouts and favourable loans from their friends in the Liberal party, Bombardier announced it was cutting about 5,000 jobs globally — 3,000 of them here in Canada.



This week, shares in the company dropped to an all-time low after Bombardier acknowledged its 2019 revenues failed to meet targets. The price plummeted by one-third of its value in a single day. Bombardier is not alone. a year ago, grocery giant Loblaw received a $12-million handout from the Liberal government to replace its refrigerators with new lowemission alternatives. Loblaw is a $25-billion company and the largest food retailer in Canada.



Why on earth would a profitable and successful corporation need a bailout from taxpayers to improve its own technology?



It was a slap in the face to taxpayers and employees earlier this month when Loblaw pointed to its own technology as the cause of major job cuts.



The company announced it would be laying off 700 workers and closing two distribution centres in Quebec and Ontario, noting the positions would be replaced by automation.



Was it the same technology that the federal government just "invested" in?



This brings us to our friends in the media, who are also cursed when it comes to government handouts. This week we learned CBC'S ad revenues fell by over 37% in 2019, falling by $65 million from 2018. Businesses are no longer interested in buying ads on CBC because Canadians, by and large, are no longer tuning into the state broadcaster. Fewer than 1% of Canadians watch local evening news on CBC.



CBC'S overall market share is down to just 5%, while its dedicated news channel, CBC news network, has just a 1.4% market share.



Fewer Canadians than ever before are watching CBC and, meanwhile, the state broadcaster receives more money than ever — a $1.2-billion annual subsidy.



Taxpayers are paying CBC to remain lazy, biased and, worst of all, uninteresting.



Instead of learning that the government should not be funding and bailing out media companies, the Trudeau government instead should set up a new scheme to extend taxpayer handouts to more even journalists.



Last fall, it announced a $595-million slush fund to bailout establishment newspapers (including Postmedia, which owns the Sun).



If these media companies are run anything like other corporate welfare-receiving firms, it will likely lead to more complacency, more mistakes and more layoffs to come.



Partnering with the government is a lose-lose situation. Taxpayers are on the hook for bailing out failing businesses and those businesses continue with bad habits that lead to more failure.



Politicians may not learn their lesson, but perhaps business owners will. Partnering with the government is the kiss of death.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of lavishing massive amounts of taxpayer dollars on companies that can't compete, Canadians are rejecting the CBC.



Canucks ditching CBC

So why do we keep funding it?

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-canadians-are-ditching-cbc-so-why-do-we-keep-funding-it">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnis ... funding-it">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-canadians-are-ditching-cbc-so-why-do-we-keep-funding-it

[Anonymous]

Speaking of lavishing massive amounts of taxpayer dollars on companies that can't compete, Canadians are rejecting the CBC.



Canucks ditching CBC

So why do we keep funding it?

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-canadians-are-ditching-cbc-so-why-do-we-keep-funding-it">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnis ... funding-it">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-canadians-are-ditching-cbc-so-why-do-we-keep-funding-it

I never watch CBC anymore. Why? Liberal party propaganda.