CBC Forum: What's the cure for Canada's ailing economy?
Canada's economy is off to a rough start this year. A low dollar, record-low oil prices and global turmoil have all taken their toll. What's the cure for Canada's ailing economy?
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It has always struck me as wrong that because someone is elected and given a portfolio that they may well have no qualifications, experience training in, that we believe that can work.
Most positions with management responsibility requires experience to even be considered. Why wouldn't the same apply with elected civil servants? -
It needs to start with Prov. and Fed. governments accepting reality that back in the 1980's when big business said "We will send the menial jobs over to 3rd world and you will get the higher paying jobs" it was a total sham . We require as a society acceptance of this and after that fact get all of our brightest minds and big business to actually start fixing it
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I really miss the Harper days. Harper did a wonderful job of managing Canada’s economy and environment. Trudeau on the other hand has promised budget deficits, higher taxes on corporations, and flooding Canada with 25,000 refugees. Under Trudeau’s watch the Loonie has dropped in value.
Also while part time jobs are being added, full time jobs are being lost at an alarming rate.
Toward the end of Harper’s tenure, the conservatives submitted a balanced budget and promised to lower the tax rate on small businesses from 11 per cent to 9 per cent by 2019. Harper successfully navigated Canada through the great recession of 2008. Finally in October 2015 Harper’s last month as PM
a robust 44,000 jobs were added. Thank you Harper for your faithful and unwavering service. -
Hi, Ironside14. You can't comment on the Jian Ghomeshi trial because there are two women who have publication bans on their names. That's standard on our coverage of all sex assault trials.The welcome would tend to create the impression CBC encourages an open and full ability for user comments. This is NOT borne out by what is in fact going on currently on the CBC online news story items. The limitations on content have become draconian and bear no relation to the published guideline.Currently a reader can comment on trials taking place in Russia and the U.S. but not the Jian Ghomeshi trial in Canada.
Ironside14at 2:34 PM -
Unfortunately, the normal comment section is not my bailiwick. If you have a specific complaint about commenting, I'd direct you to audience relations. Thanks for contributing.
However one cannot comment on the Jian Ghomeshi trial right here in Canada. The time it is currently taking for a posted comment to appear is ridiculous. It is often hours. Any attempt to criticize the moderation is automatically disabled. The moderation bears no relationship to the published "guidelines".Even strictly factual comment is disabled.Something has dramatically changed and it needs to be explained.
Ironside14at 2:37 PM -
There are no quick answers...it's a global thing...no one is to blame in the short of it...it's just the business cycle. -
It's a real mess in Alberta. Many of the unemployed are low skilled labour for oil sands, but many highly skilled people are out of work too and talent will be lost.
The chances of getting a job here if you're let go is basically zero. -
We all know the problem, but never fix it. By our sheer natural wealth, we have always managed to get by the laziest of ways...chop it down, dig it or pump it out and sell it to the Americans. If we happen to create a successful business, that to is for sale the second it turns a profit. Ridiculous!
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I think the argument could be made that complaints about the platform itself are off-topic, but, as I said before, I don't know. Audience relations is your best bet.
Please address the aspect of comments being disabled that complain about the moderation currently going on.Even when there is no abuse only factual information being offered. I will gladly make all my posts on that issue available to demonstrate that which you purport in this thread as NOT being so on the news articles.
Ironside14at 2:42 PM -
Lets see some aggressive support for the design and manufacture of large wind turbines. Become the world leader in this.
Build a stupid pipeline. Already.
Put into place tax incentives to revive the production of automobiles. Get that industry back. -
We have a lot of dollars (BILLIONS) tied up in RRSP accounts I would release some of this tax free like 10,000 per account this would give the economy a huge boost. People say this will only help the rich, but if the rich spend the lower income wouldn't lose their job. -
Canadian economy can only be fixed by diversifying the Exports and making the 99% people flourish. By sending 99% into more poverty, there no money to circulate in order to stimulate the economy. Government should add measures to restrict the outsourcing of jobs and limiting the inbound temporary workers. Also make public sector spending very efficient. -
Play to Canada's strengths.
We have resources, but resource values are low, so go to the next level and encourage an industry that deals with finished products and not just raw products.
We have an educated population, so look to encourage businesses that rely on highly educated employees, such as Print, Media, IT or sciences. -
without an increase of the value of oil the problems in the oil industry won't be solved.
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" How would you fix Canada's ailing economy?" I would create an environment where we as much as is possible only export commodities with a domestic value added component. Example refine our petroleum here. Create a domestic price for the refined energy that would make us more competitive. Also would encourage growth in additional industry to establish in Canada. Have a higher export price than domestic for the exported refined oil.
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" How would you fix Canada's ailing economy?" I would have the Federal Government tell the Provinces that any reductions passed on to consumers to encourage discretionary spending be not immediately gobbled up by provincial taxes and/or other fees. The taxpayer only has one pocket when it comes to money.
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The cure for this economy is not going to happen under this Liberal government. Heck, they haven't said a word about it other than "hang tough" & "This country's behind you". They are just into repeatedly harping to this "country" how bad Harper was. Suzuki, who also attended that Paris soiree, wants to jail him for heaven's sake.
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Never mind infrastructure spending, pipeline construction.....FORCE the 13 provinces and territories to quit acting like sovereign nations and work together for one purpose and one purpose only, getting back to work.
Quit asking for special status, cash, concessions or anything else that waxes whimsical. -
Lunch time! I'll be back in 30. The blog's still open and I'll sort through your suggestions when I get back. This has been one of the better CBC Forums. Thanks so much for your input. Back soon.
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we are a protectionist minded nation with govenments that reflect our insecurity this economy is as good as it gets while we wait for other economies to pull us along
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CBC News as stated in my name it is what I am. I have done my duty I have voted in past election. It is now the PM's responsibility to do THE JOB he was elected to do. Jon below told me that Rome wasn't built in a day. JT hasn't even put down the first stone.
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Fix the economy with a pipeline and several tax breaks for those who make 100k+ a year. Trickle-down effect, we all know that works. Right Steve Xp -
A common theme for western(Alberta) folks is the pipeline. Ya... That won't work folks. We need a more marketable product, something that is not controlled by stock prices and will really drive demand. Oil back in the day was great, but it isn't the end all, be all of what it means to have a thriving economy. We need to get our manufacturing back on track, and to do that we need real techs to drive inovation. New is better. Old oil is nothing in this world.
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Let's quit bashing unions and get some manufacturing happening again using our bountiful resources and get Canadians working again! How else are we going to improve the 1%er's economy?......& lets go after the wealthy tax evaders!
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1. Housing. Each new house eat the chunk of the land price. This needs to be brough down.
and instead of the land cost the cost for the self sufficient renewable energy houses needs to be built so that it reduces the Cities overhead cost and saving for the people living in thoses houses.
2. Bringing young and skilled immigrant: Allow universities to be part of immigration process so that oversears students can become part of the immigration society. And this will feed a part of the economy if this is pnanned properly.
3. Oil reserve: Build huge oil reserve so that canada is self sufficient on OUR oil and the prices can be adjusted based on the internal demand. This will keep the lob loss in oil industry and their monopoly. -
Why is it such an issue to spend all those billions for a pipeline instead of an actual refinement facility in Alberta? Then the need to extract for raw product there increases as the refined fuels are sold/shipped to meet the needs of north and west provinces as well as the central and western states.
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Provide financial incentives for people and business to retrofit their buildings to use less energy (tax breaks, grants, etc. for equipment and renovations). This creates skilled jobs everywhere in Canada, uses mostly domestically produced equipment, ultimately lowers peoples fuel bills, and if we do have a return to higher oil prices, allows more of the commodity to be exported.
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For a fast effect, we could easily make federal money available to small and medium businesses that can replace the goods that have become cost prohibitive such as green houses and farms.
It's unfortunate that we can't seem to refine our own oil and that would take years to come to market but we need to look at using federal clout to force our current suppliers to pass along their savings. Or, put another way, to reduce the obscenely high profits they're taking.
I als agree with providing material assistance to speed up the return of manufacturing that has been lost over the last 10 years. -
We can do some very basic things to lessen outflows of our low-value capital: 1. Kick-start domestic fruit, vegetable and nut production and distribution. 2. Encourage domestic fresh water fish and shellfish aquaculture. 3. Buy CDN whenever possible. This will preserve and build value for Canadians; assets that can be built upon.
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Or you we could put a stop to foreign ownership of our companies. Penalize companies that outsource work. With an additional tax or tariff
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The Canadian economy is driven by consumer spending (over 1 trillion $ annually), so the best way to stimulate it is to get money into the hands of the working poor (unlike the wealthy, they will spend it locally on food, shelter, and clothing). Banks are permitted to loan 5 dollars out for every dollar borrowed (yes, they are literally handed free money all the time), since we are giving the money away anyways, we should be giving some of it to the citizenry instead of the banks.
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Buy Canadian.....The more imports we buy the more jobs we export.... -
Forget TPP, we have water to sell, how much leverage do we need?
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Encourage business to grow with competetive tax rates.
A lot of people talk about stop corporate subsidies etc while these are wonderful talking points they are not practicial.
All government buildings etc should be built with stuff that is made in Canada -
We really have to get off this idea that the 6% of the Canadian economy that is the oil and gas industry is the "heart" of the economy (it just isn't). Consumer spending accounts for well over $1 trillion dollars of the economy and is "WAY" more important than any other sector.
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All the concerns and down turns are caused by the oil slump! That is the root cause! So I think the best solution is getting the sick minded rotten opec under control and bring the oil price back up!
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The time has come to re-think the "free" trade deals. They were sold to us on the basis that we would be better off for having them but that is not the case. Free trade helps the big corporations but kills jobs.The government needs to get out of the box and start creating jobs which means more local manufacturing.
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The depression of the late 19th century lasted about 25 years--it too was a financial depression. While we are much more advanced, our economic thinking is not. By far too many of our people have too little purchasing power through no wages, low wages and flat wages for decades. More bank loans are not helping. Large scale government investment in jobs will along with truly progressive income and coroprate taxes.
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Canada is not business-friendly for SME's; reduce red tape and stand aside. Honestly, how is it that bureaucrats believe they are better at generating wealth than the business community? if bureaucrats insist on managing businesses through excessive regulations and legislation, they shouldn't be in government and, of course, vice-versa.
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Lurchmeister has it right we need to refine our own goods.
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We need to balance medium / long term outlook with short term issues. Having a dollar that is so affected by oil / commodity prices creates the boom / bust cycle. The question is, how to break that relationship. We have to get on board the shift to a low carbon economy - sooner rather than later. Support for / investment in infrastructure and projects must keep that in mind. Will that infrastructure make sense 10, 20, 30 years from now? Will it have paid for itself? Several economists have said that infrastructure investment will help the economy if those considerations are kept in mind.
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Like investment experts say "diversify". We have leaned on commodities and resources far too long. Quit selling crude and start selling refined products, motor oil, gasoline. Also broaden oir energy generation, more hydro and clean nuclear power (read fusion here not fission). Quit selling raw logs and start selling lumber and finished furniture or pre fan houses. Push high tech and software development and sales. Mostly, support job creation in long term well paying jobs. Not the stratification of wealth that has already gone far past the point of sensibility.
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Lets push "humanitarianism" instead of the failed "capitalism"! After all......money is the root of all evil and it's showing! The 1%ers in control won't allow that.....for their greed & need to control!
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Get real here get the pipe lines built. And some refineeres to process the the product we supply. = jobs . Let quebec seperate havent heard much about that when they cashing there equalization cheques.
