Economy

B.C. welcomes back its outdoor events economy – Business in Vancouver

Published

3 years ago

April 12, 2022

Powell Street Festival Society executive director Emiko Morita with Daruma, the unofficial mascot of the festival, which is set to return after a forced two-year absence because of the global pandemic | Chung Chow

After a two-year pandemic-driven hiatus for large public gatherings, organizers for Vancouver’s top cultural festivals are crossing their fingers as summer approaches with the promise of a return of pre-COVID crowds.

For TaiwanFest, Bard on the Beach and some of the city’s other major cultural festivals, the responses from organizers about the return to traditional gatherings, parades and crowds are unsurprisingly upbeat.

“I would say cautious relief and irrepressible excitement,” said Emiko Morita, Powell Street Festival Society executive director, with her words followed by a quick laugh revealing a sense of anticipation shared by other festival organizers.

For Vancouver Pride Society executive director Lee Keple, the anticipation is doubled because her organization had to scrap its Winter Pride – originally scheduled two months ago in February – at the last minute because of changing health regulations.

“We had hoped we would be out of the pandemic this spring and had a whole bunch of great programming,” Keple said. “And then, at the 11th hour, we had to let that go because we had to adhere to the public health orders. It was demoralizing for the staff … So believe you me, we are all as excited as the rest of Vancouver.

“Pride is back.”

As of now, all four of the aforementioned festival are planning for a return to full in-person festivals after two years of “hybrid programming” using online platforms and smaller exhibits that did not attract crowds to a single location.

Bard on the Beach, the outdoor Shakespearean theatre festival, will launch first with the opening of its BMO Mainstage on June 8 for its presentation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Vanier Park. Romeo and Juliet is scheduled to start Aug. 3, and an Othello-inspired play, Harlem Duet, will run June 15 to July 17.

Pride, Vancouver’s iconic parade and festival celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, and Powell Street – one of the longest-running Canadian festivals celebrating the Japanese Canadian community – will fall on the same weekend this year.

Powell Street Festival will take place on July 30 and 31 at Oppenheimer Park (and the historic Japanese Canadian neighbourhood of Paueru Gai), while the Pride Parade will wind along Robson and Denman streets before ending at its Sunset Beach festival site on July 31.

TaiwanFest – one of Vancouver’s biggest street festivals with a theme surrounding Taiwanese food and culture – has not announced its official dates. But the festival historically takes place downtown on Granville Street and at the Vancouver Art Gallery plaza on Labour Day weekend (slated for Sept. 3-5 this year).

For TaiwanFest lead organizer Charlie Wu, while the last two years have been trying, the festival has learned how to leverage online platforms to reach new audiences – something TaiwanFest will continue this year with its “Conversation with Indonesia/Malaysia” theme and in subsequent years as the festival expands its scope by engaging with cultures around the world, starting with the Netherlands in 2023.

“We’re definitely very happy that we can go back to the in-person format,” said Wu, managing director at the Asian Canadian Special Events Association. “And for the past couple of years, we also have an opportunity to kind of revisit some of the things that we weren’t able to kind of evaluate, because we only had one year to prepare for any new thing.

“What we’re going to be doing is to be able to do both in-person and online; we will create programming where people that come could have a great time. And then, for the people that didn’t come, they still will be impacted by what the festival was.”

For Bard on the Beach executive director Claire Sakaki, the financial implications of the return of crowds is as critical as the social/cultural impact of Vancouver’s return to normalcy this summer.

“Oh, my gosh, it is an understatement to say we are excited,” Sakaki said. “We are so thrilled to be back in the park this summer. Our business model is such that we rely very heavily on ticket sales: two-thirds of our almost $9 million budget comes from ticket sales. So you can imagine the financial difficulty we face when we can’t produce the season … and it’s vitally important we get back to live theatre and in-person programming.”

She noted that Bard has been lucky. A combination of government and community pandemic funding, along with running programs online (including the festival’s first feature film) meant the group was able to keep its entire year-round team of 26 staff members employed through the two years without live theatre revenue.

But officials added that the pandemic interruption of the live-attendance economy “shone a light on the need to protect the livelihoods of people at the core” of industries like theatre that depend on seasonal, gate-driven interactions.

And it isn’t just about the financial bottom-line, Sakaki said, it’s about the intrinsic nature of what live performance is.

“We have all been creating art and important work over the last two years, but they’ve all been digital,” she said. “One of the things that is the most exciting … is the fact we are bringing people back together, to experience it live and to experience a live audience.”

Pride’s Keple agreed.

She said the “Together Again” theme of this year’s Pride Parade will reflect the same notion of cherishing the return of gathering with others.

“That was the rallying call. We asked folks for their ideas for this year, and we got a lot of different suggestions, but they were really all variants on this theme: We get to be together. We are still finalizing some of our activities and events, but they’re all very much about ways for us to come together and enjoy each other’s company in some structured and unstructured ways.”

Keple added that attendance is expected to be strong, as pent-up demand for people to attend festivals can already be seen in other ticketed events like sports games and concerts.

Similarly, Powell Street Festival’s Morita said she is optimistic about the attendance this year based on the seeing the turnout at other events so far in the spring.

She added that, while the festival focuses on the Japanese Canadian community returning to its historic neighbourhood on Powell Street, the importance of the festival as a catalyst to bring economic and social benefit to the Downtown Eastside – one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic economy in Metro Vancouver – is not lost on organizers.

“Yes, when we gather there, it’s a return to the historic Japanese Canadian community,” Morita said. “But when we arrive, we are arriving as guests … and one of the special things about Powell Street Festival is how the Japanese Canadian community at-large joins shoulder to shoulder with Downtown Eastside residents to stage the festival. It’s a magical ingredient, and I think this year will be particularly emotional to have that physical coming-together.

“This will be an opportunity for people to come together and really, really celebrate the resilience that everybody has demonstrated over the last trying while.” •

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Economy

Canada’s unemployment rate holds steady at 6.5% in October, economy adds 15,000 jobs

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.

Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.

Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.

Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.

Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.

Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.

Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.

According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.

That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.

People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.

That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.

Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.

That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Economy

Health-care spending expected to outpace economy and reach $372 billion in 2024: CIHI

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.

The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.

CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.

This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.

While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.

Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.

The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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Economy

Trump’s victory sparks concerns over ripple effect on Canadian economy

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.

Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.

A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.

More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.

Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.

“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.

“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”

American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.

It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.

“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.

“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”

A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.

Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.

“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.

Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”

“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.

“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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