Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with a member of the public at an event following the signing of the Nunavut devolution agreement in Iqaluit, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.
Officials say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be putting a big emphasis on policies that help Canada’s middle class as he prepares to chair a cabinet retreat in Montreal over the next three days.
His governing team kicks off the retreat Sunday night with a working dinner, followed by two full days of meetings preparing for the House of Commons to resume sitting next week.
It is also looking ahead to the next federal budget, expected within the next two months.
With a slowing economy, the government has limited room for major new spending and no shortage of needs, including pressure to increase spending on the military, invest more in Canada’s electricity grid and pay for an influx of asylum seekers.
But also top of mind for Liberals right now are plummeting poll numbers and high anxiety among voters about the inflation, particularly rising grocery bills and housing costs.
Thus the first part of the retreat is set aside for pocketbook policies, with a spate of experts scheduled to speak to the cabinet about affordability, the economy and housing.
Among them will be Frances Donald, the chief economist at Manulife Financial, which warned in its 2024 forecast on Jan. 18 that the economy is starting the year from a position of weakness and uncertainty. Manulife’s expectation is that the worst economic news will be over by mid-year but not without causing at least some short-term pain.
Canadians are slowing their spending and growing nervous about their job security, Manulife warned, and more Canadians will be forced to renew their mortgages this year at rates often two to three times what they were before.
Dominique Lapointe, Manulife’s global macro strategist who penned the forecast, said a lot of economic realities in 2024 will depend on what the Bank of Canada does with interest rates.
The central bank’s aggressive interest rate hikes to counter inflation peaked in July at five per cent, and haven’t been touched since. Economists have predicted the bank will begin to cut that rate down in the spring but sticky inflation numbers — it crept back up to 3.4 per cent in December — have some hedging that bet now.
The first chance to see what the bank will do comes Wednesday, the day after the cabinet retreat ends.
Manulife did predict housing prices will fall, at least in the early part of 2024, as higher mortgage rates slow demand.
But Mike Moffatt, an economics professor and housing expert from Western University, said with Canada’s population still soaring — almost entirely due to immigration — housing supply is falling further behind.
Moffatt said even with the Liberals moving on smart policies like their $4 billion accelerator fund to fund municipal housing developments, and removing the GST from new rental construction, none of the policies fixes anything overnight and the population is still growing faster than housing.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said last year Canada is short about 3.5 million homes, and Moffatt said that number is “probably even larger.”
“They are positive moves, but given the scale of the crisis more needs to be done,” he said.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported on Jan. 16 that actual housing starts in 2023 fell seven per cent in cities with a population of at least 10,000 people. However it said there were bright spots in some of the biggest cities, with housing starts up five per cent compared with 2022 in Toronto and 28 per cent in Vancouver. Both cities recorded significant jumps in multi-unit construction starts.
Immigration and its impact on housing will play an outsized role in discussions in Montreal. The government has already been talking about tying student visa approvals to available housing, and is under pressure to expand that to more immigration approvals as well.
Canada is targeting 485,000 newcomers this year
Also popping back into the conversation is the national child care program, a signature policy of Trudeau’s which the Liberals believe has helped women’s participation in the workforce and economy growth.
But there are some provinces turning back to Ottawa looking for additional funding as inflation has raised costs for daycare operators faster than government funding has kept up.
Canada signed child care agreements with every province and territory in 2021 and 2022, with $30 billion in federal funding budgeted over five years. Ottawa transferred funds to the provinces to help them increase funding to child care centres, which in turn could lower fees for parents.
Initially the goal was to cut fees in half by the end of the first year, and eventually lowering them to no more than $10 a day.
The agreements all include some kind of midterm review of the funding model. Ontario, which signed in March 2022, was to get $10.2 billion over five years but its agreement includes a review in year three that allows Ontario to come back to Ottawa for more cash if it has evidence the original deal wasn’t big enough.
Daycares in multiple provinces have warned they may withdraw from the program because their deficits are too big. Others say they need to raise wages even more in order to recruit and retain staff.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers placed All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey on injured reserve because of his lingering calf and Achilles tendon injuries.
The move made Saturday means McCaffrey will miss at least four more games after already sitting out the season opener. He is eligible to return for a Thursday night game in Seattle on Oct. 10.
McCaffrey got hurt early in training camp and missed four weeks of practice before returning to the field on a limited basis last week. He was a late scratch for the opener on Monday night against the Jets and now is sidelined again after experiencing pain following practice on Thursday.
McCaffrey led the NFL last season with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and was tied for the league lead with 21 touchdowns, winning AP Offensive Player of the Year.
The Niners made up for McCaffrey’s absence thanks to a strong performance from backup Jordan Mason, who had 28 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 32-19 victory over the New York Jets. Mason is set to start again Sunday at Minnesota.
After missing 23 games because of injuries in his final two full seasons with Carolina, McCaffrey had been healthy the past two seasons.
He missed only one game combined in 2022-23 — a meaningless Week 18 game last season for San Francisco when he had a sore calf. His 798 combined touches from scrimmage in the regular season and playoffs were the third most for any player in a two-year span in the past 10 years.
Now San Francisco will likely rely heavily on Mason, a former undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech who had 83 carries his first two seasons. He had at least 10 touches just twice before the season opener, when his 28 carries were the most by a 49ers player in a regular-season game since Frank Gore had 31 against Seattle on Oct. 30, 2011.
The Niners also have fourth-round rookie Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor Jr. on the active roster. Guerendo played three offensive snaps with no touches in the opener. Taylor had 65 carries for Green Bay from 2021-23.
San Francisco also elevated safety Tracy Walker III from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against Minnesota.
BRUSSELS – Canada walked away with some hardware at the Diamond League track and field competition Saturday.
Alysha Newman finished third in women’s pole vault, while Marco Arop did the same in the men’s 800-metre race.
Newman won a bronze medal in her event at the recent Paris Olympics. Arop grabbed silver at the same distance in France last month.
Australia’s Nina Kennedy, who captured gold at the Summer Games, again finished atop the podium. Sandi Morris of the United States was second.
Newman set a national record when she secured Canada’s first-ever pole vault medal with a bronze at the Olympics with a height of 4.85 metres. The 30-year-old from London, Ont., cleared 4.80 metres in her second attempt Saturday, but was unable conquer 4.88 metres on three attempts.
Arop, a 25-year-old from Edmonton, finished the men’s 800 metres with a time of one minute 43.25 seconds. Olympic gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya was first with a time of 1:42.70.
Djamel Sedjati, edged out by Arop for silver in Paris last month, was second 1:42.87
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MILAN (AP) — Bologna’s preparations for its Champions League debut are not going well though it managed to spoil Como’s first Serie A home match in 21 years on Saturday.
Bologna came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw to gather three points from its opening four matches.
Bologna hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. Its only other appearance in Europe’s top competition was in 1964 in the preliminary round of the old European Cup.
AC Milan is also winless as it prepares for a Tuesday Champions League match against Liverpool. The Rossoneri hosted promoted Venezia later. Juventus drew at Empoli 0-0.
Como made a great start in the fifth minute when Patrick Cutrone attempted to roll the ball across the six-yard box but it took a huge deflection off Bologna defender Nicolò Casale for an own goal.
Bologna thought it was gifted a way back into the match on the stroke of halftime when referee Marco Piccinini signalled for a penalty following an Alberto Moreno handball, but he revoked his decision and instead gave a free kick because the handball was just outside the area.
Bologna improved after the break but found itself further behind when Cutrone raced onto a through ball and cut inside past a defender and fired into the far bottom corner.
Tommaso Pobega hit the post for Bologna, which finally pulled one back in the 76th through substitute Santiago Castro.
Another substitute helped the visitors snatch a point when Samuel Iling-Junior curled a fine strike into the top left corner in stoppage time.
Unbeaten sides
Juventus, and more surprisingly Empoli, are among six unbeaten sides.
Empoli held Monza and Bologna to draws either side of a shock 2-1 win at Roma. Juventus’ perfect start to the season was ruined by Roma in a goalless draw before the international break.
On Saturday, there were few clearcut chances in Empoli although home goalkeeper Devis Vásquez made spectacular saves to fingertip out a Federico Gatti header and deny Dusan Vlahovic in a one on one with the Juventus forward.
Empoli had a good opportunity in the 73rd minute following an Alberto Grassi one-two with Pietro Pellegri but the finish was straight at Mattia Perin.
The host could have won it right at the death but Gatti flew in with a great sliding block to keep out Emanuel Gyasi’s close-range effort.
Juventus hosts PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.
