More

Rachel Mendleson
Rachel.Mendleson@huffingtonpost.com Become a fan of this reporter
GET UPDATES FROM Rachel
 

Canadian Economy: 5 Signs The Recovery Is Fizzling Away (PHOTOS)

Canada Economy Recovery

First Posted: 09/09/11 02:53 PM ET Updated: 11/09/11 05:12 AM ET

Amazing
 Inspiring
 Funny
 Scary
 Hot
 Crazy
 Important
 Weird

Since the financial meltdown in late 2008, bad economic news has had a tendency to arrive all once.

This has recently been the case in Canada, where an onslaught of negative reports are contributing to growing uncertainty about the strength of the recovery. The latest example came Friday morning, as Statistics Canada data showed that the country lost 5,500 jobs in August, despite analysts’ expectations that 25,000 new jobs would be added.

“It confirms that the Canadian economy is delivering a soft performance,” Craig Alexander, chief economist for TD Bank told The Huffington Post. “The economic activity data that we’ve recently received suggest that the economy is in fact growing in the third quarter, but the pace of rebound from the second quarter may not be as pronounced as people thought … The pace of growth in the second half of this year is going to be fairly subdued.”

Just how “subdued” growth will be is anyone’s guess. But at the moment, there’s plenty of reason to suspect that economic performance in the months ahead may be bumpy at best.

Here are five signs that Canada’s economic recovery has hit a rough patch:

Jobs
1  of  6
PLAY
FULLSCREEN
ZOOM
SHARE THIS SLIDE 
Despite an increase in full-time employment, losses in construction, transportation, warehousing and natural resources contributed to a decline of 5,500 jobs in August, pushing the unemployment rate up slightly to 7.3 per cent. "Employment growth in Canada has definitely shifted down a gear," says Craig Alexander, chief economist for TD Bank. "I don't think we're in for a string of declines of employment, but if you look at three month moving average for employment in Canada, what you're getting is a softer rate of job creation than you've had earlier in the recovery."
MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT >   |   < PREV

FOLLOW HUFFPOST CANADA BUSINESS

Since the financial meltdown in late 2008, bad economic news has had a tendency to arrive all once. This has recently been the case in Canada, where an onslaught of negative reports are contributi...
Since the financial meltdown in late 2008, bad economic news has had a tendency to arrive all once. This has recently been the case in Canada, where an onslaught of negative reports are contributi...
 
 
  • Comments
  • 33
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Favorites
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2  Next ›  Last »  (2 total)
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
uneeda
Make Peace in Our Time
128 Fans
06:19 PM on 09/11/2011
not to worry,our govt has everything under control ?
Permalink  |
photo
ontariogirl
Peace!
762 Fans
02:51 PM on 09/11/2011
Very Interesting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlVWArmysic
Permalink  |
photo
SimonBao
373 Fans
07:09 AM on 09/11/2011
Well, look to the Eurozone, look to the UK, look to the US, and you'll see all those economies are fizzling their way into the double dip recession as well.

Pretty much all economists and politicians underestimated the catastrophic damage done to national economies and global economies in 2008. Having underestimated the extent of the damage, they reacted as if it were an ordinary recession, and they were too timid with their responses to it.

But it's not an ordinary recession when you have a disastrous, widespread housing bubble coinciding with record-breaking debt levels, a sub-prime lending bubble, reckless (nearly wantonly destructive) government deregulation of banking and financial sectors, over-leveraged institutions wrapped up in credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations, a global financial crisis and collapse of commercial credit.

And 3-1/2 years into this now, the middle class has now seen its savings wiped out due to falling housing prices, loss of IRAs and stock portfolios, and prolonged unemployment. Sovereign debt threatens not just individual nations but the global economy.

In light of all that, our leaders' responses back in 2007-2009, when it mattered most, was timid indeed.

Fizzle is the polite word for what's happening now.
Permalink  |
Jennifer Prokhorov
0 Fans
03:34 PM on 09/10/2011
Canada's necessary and sufficient steps for Canadian economic recovery:

1. Stop being obsessed with sex and only sex in absolutely everything everyday.
2. Increase productivity, which is different from a reference to sex.
3. Start thinking, which is different from a reference to sex.
4. Be literate, numerate, be aware of conservative cultures, be aware there is a world bigger than NATO, be open to international business, all without reference to sex.
5. Read the Soviet Encyclopaedia of Mathematics for fun, without reference to sex. Stop jumping to hasty conclusions, without reference to sex. Be respectful of human beings, without reference to sex. Contribute first before asking for anything, without reference to sex.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tony frm Banff
Search for truth,not spin
196 Fans
04:08 PM on 09/10/2011
When do we get the sex?
Permalink  |
Jennifer Prokhorov
0 Fans
04:27 PM on 09/10/2011
I appreciate the online evidence you provide for the whole world to see - evidence of some Canadians given a world full of interesting conversation topics instead reduce to the monkey level of sex and only sex... Good job providing such clear evidence - thank you!
Permalink  |
Canuck2011
5 Fans
09:23 AM on 09/11/2011
Sounds like Jennifer is hung up on SEX..
Permalink  |
Jennifer Prokhorov
0 Fans
01:05 PM on 09/11/2011
Today I started work around 0630 and covered the topics of 2001 09 11, national security, mathematics, economics, human communication, health, integrity, and library management.

Canuck2011 and only Canuck2011 who is too gutless to publish with a name is the unique individual who mentioned that brainless topic in my reading space, therefore the obsession belongs exclusively to Canuck2011.

Jennifer Prokhorov who operates in public in her name, works with mind. Mind is brains above the waistline - this clear explanation is provided for the natural IQ of real mainstream Canadians.

On behalf of all international readers, I have a question for mainstream Canada: our multilingual dictionaries omit translation into human language the grunts mainstream Canadians emit, seeming to attempt to communicate. Please let this intelligent and international community know: how do mainstream Canadians (which we all know and observe are sex-obsessed) hope transnational corporations, international banks and national leaders can interpret grunts? Before any coward in mainstream Canada starts swearing, this intelligent and international community is already aware that the most articulate mainstream Canadians who have university degrees try to win by swearing and making loud noises - wasted effort here.

Globalization lets every individual fantasy be made real, proportional to contribution. Thank you Canuck2011 for demonstrating your cowardice, disrespect of humanity and disrespect of intelligent communication for everyone to see: we appreciate mainstream Canadian online demonstration of who it is and what it does differently and best.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Christina Robins
132 Fans
 
08:35 AM on 09/10/2011
Big shock our economy always tanks with Conservatives in charge! And with a Reformer leading the party, our economy and our world image will die in the next 3.5 years.
Permalink  |
photo
TT Esty1
Failure is a temporary condition.
140 Fans
03:52 AM on 09/10/2011
Gosh, Rachel, you had me worried for a minute when you said the recovery is fizzling. I didn't even know that we were sick. I was pleased to note that the 'fizzle' was based on 'an onslaught of negative reports'. I love the economists who like modern day Nostradamus share their predictions in language couched in 'soft performance', 'subdued', 'bumpy' and 'rough patch'. Those terms may sound specific to them but confusing to me. Some would argue that Nostradamus predicted 9/11 because he used the terms 'earthshaking fire' and 'land tremble' and he even made the predictions some 400 years before the towers were built. Our economic Nostradamus are able to calculate labour productivity to the tenth decimal place and then predict the future state of the economy. Why is that they were unable to warn us about the global collapse of the economy? Why are the powers that be doing the same old, same old? Reminds me of the times past when doctors used to do blood letting. Didn't work, but it was all they had.

Nevertheless, Rachel, you'll be pleased to know that I am saving seed and next spring will plant a victory garden. I just hope Monsanto doesn't find out.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
piceaglauca
The picture says it all....
294 Fans
 
01:28 AM on 09/10/2011
We don't need the list to know where we are going. Over 57% of Canadians have delayed retirement. Savings by Canadains have diminished considerably. Credit card debt has increased considerably. Credit card interest puts most Canadians in a negative situation. For every dollar earned $1.57 is owed. We are going down the river and over the falls.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Leader Newworldparty
16 Fans
12:08 AM on 09/10/2011
FAKE ECONOMY

We had fake economies, supported by money stolen from children, for multi-decades.

SUSTAINABLE:

When the economy is growing, the government should be running surpluses and building a reserve. When the economy contracts (recession), the government can tap into the reserve to run a deficit, to stimulate the economy. There should never be a debt.

UNSUSTAINABLE

Instead, for multi-decades, when the economy is growing, the government runs deficits, creates and grows the debt. When the economy contracts, the government runs even bigger deficits, growing the debt even bigger.

When the country hit a limit on how much more they can steal from children to support the economy, the economy gravitates back to the equilibrium level. This level, where we enjoy a standard of living that we earned and deserve, is lower than where we are now.

Read: http://www­.newworldp­arty.org/2­009/01/fak­e-economy.­html

Households have negative net-worth if public debt is added, which means we are bankrupt already. (Most businesses are bankrupt if they have negative net-worths.) U.S. and Canada should realize that they are poor, not rich countries and stop thinking that they can provide for (through socialist programs) or aid everybody in the world.

Canada is only holding up because its home-buyers, consumers and all levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal) are stealing (borrowing) even more from children than Americans did in 2007, to support the economy.
Permalink  |
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
boneyize
128 Fans
01:26 AM on 09/10/2011
counter-cyclical (rainy-day) economic policy? bah! that's for modernizing economies (like some in south america) that don't want to be forced to start from scratch every time commodity prices take a dip. stability is for p_u$$_ie_$!

those on the right say that keynesian economics is dead. i say we never really tried it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jimboy71
Hen Diapheron Heautoi
1299 Fans
07:39 PM on 09/09/2011
Is this really all you have to blog about?
Permalink  |
northstar11
mt
603 Fans
06:48 PM on 09/09/2011
how many jobs did we get in exchange for the billions harper heaped on the banks and oil patch ----or did it all go to executive bonuses??
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Norma Ward
97 Fans
06:25 PM on 09/09/2011
Kevin Page, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer, has found that Canada's aging population and a decline in the size of the workforce will create an unsustainable debt and deficit scenario in the future as shown here:

http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2011/02/canadas-pbo-kevin-page-canadas-stubborn.html

In the next 50 years, one in two Canadians will be over 65 years of age, up from one in five in the year 2000. That factor alone will certainly impact government's ability to balance their budgets and reduce the debt.

It's not going to get better before it gets a lot worse.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Scoville Scale
Canadian Contrarian
343 Fans
04:53 PM on 09/09/2011
Hmm.
Maybe it has something to do with big headlines like: "Outlook Not Good" and "Recovery Stalled."
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Whistlejackett
Hey stop doing that
971 Fans
 
04:50 PM on 09/09/2011
We are at the top of the heap, so not a wonder that we will be dragged down by the Fools.
Permalink  |
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
hg wells
665 Fans
04:49 PM on 09/09/2011
recovery from what. Educated Canadians who haven't worked for the gov't or large corps have been living hand to mouth for 20 years. The average Canadian lives on credit cards and runs out of money before the paycheck comes in.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
opprobrious
More speech. Less Flagging.
922 Fans
04:17 PM on 09/09/2011
I'm not sure I should be shocked. And, surprisingly enough, this lefty doesn't (completely) blame the Harper government for it. It's a sign of the times and we're going to need to ride it out a bit. However, I do believe we should be focusing on localized economies-of-scale instead of corporate tax policy and military appropriations simply because it creates a far greater multiplier. My 2 cents.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ProgressiveCDN
A Progressive Moderate
317 Fans
 
04:27 PM on 09/09/2011
Well the losses in construction and transportation could be easily remedied, but this one can't squarely land on Harper's shoulders... Now if we see another 5 months of declines, then we know our Government is doing something wrong.
Permalink  |
Page: 1 2  Next ›  Last »  (2 total)