Editor’s note: Ahead of the Sept. 20 federal election, MidlandToday contacted the five candidates in Simcoe North, asking each to answer, in 200 words or less, five key questions. We start today with a question about the economy. Check in tomorrow when the candidates will weigh in on the controversial topic of vaccine passports. *************************
Question 1: We are facing a massive deficit coupled with a need for a continued economic recovery effort in the wake of the pandemic. On top of that, there is a critical need for more employees in the service sectors. What will you and your party do to address the deficit, stimulate the economy and help address the shortage of workers?
Answer from Liberal candidate Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux: We will endeavour to create a comprehensive review of how monies are being expended, while ensuring services are not cut to those who need them the most, ensure fair taxation is addressed, ensure large corporations cannot use loopholes to lower their tax responsibilities, and ensure small business is supported.
There is an absolute need for training and retraining programs to be supported as the economy shifts and job availability changes. Technology and automation must be considered in the future for full economic recovery – if the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that we must be prepared for unexpected impacts and that includes the kind of work people will be expected to take up over the coming decade.
The Liberal party is committed to ensuring a living wage for those people working in service sector employment, this is a good step forward.
Answer from Conservative candidate Adam Chambers: Our primary objectives are growing the economy by helping our constituents get back to work and supporting businesses that are struggling to find workers and having to navigate this global pandemic.
Government spending must be restrained so that taxes remain low for small businesses and families. We should also be promoting careers in the trades to our young people to ensure they acquire skills in demand in today’s economy.
Answer from NDP candidate Janet-Lynne Durnford:
The New Democratic Party is committed to creating new opportunities in every part of the country by investing in retraining for a low-carbon future. We will stimulate the economy by creating a million good jobs in new housing construction, retrofitting of existing buildings, child care, and the manufacturing of essential products, such as personal protective equipment, here in Canada. We will make it easier for Canadians to join unions.
I will advocate for federally-protected paid sick leave and fair pay for all workers in Simcoe North.
Answer from Green Party candidate Krystal Brooks: In my opinion, this is an improperly framed question coming from a conservative viewpoint showing a bias in the media. There is no labour shortage, only a wage shortage.
If you want a just economic recovery the only solution that will work is a Universal Basic Income. A path that will ensure that those that have no money can not only pay their bills but also put money back into small business.
We are seeing the end result of predatory capitalism and conservative politics wherein the only ones with any expendable money are the 1%. And now they are wondering how they can make more money. The answer is to tax the 1% highway even at 2008 levels and provide a Universal Basic Income that allows everyone to have a floor that nobody falls below.
Answer from People’s Party of Canada candidate Stephen Makk: Deficits, public debt, and quantitative easing (money-printing) are just taxes on future generations. The PPC would end COVID-related federal spending programs, and not allow any increase in overall spending in its first mandate.
We would eliminate the deficit within four years through fiscal prudence and spending cuts, including corporate welfare (~$10B), foreign aid (~$5B), cutting CBC and other media subsidies (~$2B), and curtailing flow-through funding to provinces/ municipalities.
We would simplify the tax system.
After the budget is balanced, we would stimulate growth by reducing income taxes and capital gains taxes as quickly as fiscal room allows. A PPC government would set the Bank of Canada’s inflation rate target at 0%. Inflation is already rising and if left unchecked will end up being yet another “tax on everything”, and a debasement of our currency. Inflation hurts the poor and those on fixed incomes the most.
A thriving economy needs LESS government intervention, and a thriving economy creates jobs in all sectors where there is demand.
Finally, the PPC would start a new ministry, that of Interprovincial Trade. We would eliminate all barriers to trade within Canada. Analysts say that this would be like a 6-7% increase in GDP right there.
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.
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.
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.
