Premier Jason Kenney, seen here on Feb. 24, 2020, will play host Monday to a conference call with a new economic advisory council, chaired by Calgary economist Jack Mintz.
CODIE MCLACHLAN/The Globe and Mail
Alberta is set to release an economic stimulus package this week as the province has been hit hard from the COVID-19 pandemic and plunging oil prices.
Premier Jason Kenney will play host Monday to a conference call with a new economic advisory council, chaired by Calgary economist Jack Mintz, as the province hashes out the best way to give its teetering economy a fiscal shot in the arm.
At a news conference on Friday, Mr. Kenney said the goal was to announce an initial package of assistance by the end of this week.
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With fiscal year-end approaching, along with spring breakup for oil drilling rigs and the start of construction season, Mr. Kenney said his government is moving as quickly as possible on an economic rescue package.
“I expect a lot of very important economic decisions to be made for the Alberta economy by business leaders over the course of the next two and half weeks. We want them to know the government of Alberta will be there as much as we reasonably can,” he said.
The Premier and Energy Minister Sonya Savage have met with the energy sector and will continue talks with other sectors in the coming days to nail down the government’s next moves.
Alberta leans heavily on non-renewable resources, which are forecast to comprise around 13 per cent of provincial revenue in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
But mid-sized energy producers are facing a liquidity crisis as lenders tighten their purse strings and the per-barrel price of oil withers. Western Canadian Select crude has hovered just above $30 over the past few months, but plunged below $20 last week in the face of decreased demand because of the new coronavirus spread and an escalating Saudi-Russia oil price war.
On Friday, the federal government announced that the two Crown corporations that lend to Canadian businesses – Export Development Canada (EDC) and Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) – will boost their loans by $10-billion, as part of a strategy to inject additional liquidity into the economy.
While details on that plan are yet to be released, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said small and medium businesses would receive most of the funds. Smaller companies are facing the prospect of severe hits to cash flow as social distancing hurts the retail and hospitality sectors, in particular. Loans from EDC and BDC could provide a financial bridge during the fight against the virus.
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Mr. Kenney said he was encouraged by the move, but that his government is doing the calculations to figure out if it is adequate support for the already-struggling energy sector. If not, his government will pursue additional credit tools.
His United Conservative government is considering an instrument similar to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) rolled out in the United States during the global financial crisis. Under TARP, the U.S. Congress authorized US$700-billion to bail out financial companies and automakers.
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews said Friday he has raised energy-industry concerns with Mr. Morneau, and is working with Alberta’s financial institutions to ensure that the province is prepared to meet credit and liquidity challenges.
Mr. Kenney stressed that all areas of Alberta’s economy – including tourism, hospitality and travel – will be hit by the pandemic, and said his government is “looking at a whole suite of measures” to help those industries.
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OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
