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First ministers agree to draft national guidelines on reopening economy – CBC.ca

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s premiers agreed to work toward a jointly-drafted set of national guidelines on reopening the economy during their weekly conference call this afternoon.

Federal and provincial sources say they hope to have a common set of guiding principles finalized by next week.

“We ought to signal to Canadians there is a national standard, a national way of doing things, even if they are going to happen at different times.” said a senior federal official speaking on background. “I think that there was broad consensus, as long as there is flexibility.”

Flexibility will be critical, as several provinces are already taking steps to revive their economies. Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have released multi-step plans. Ontario and Quebec are poised to do the same next week.

A ‘degree of flexibility’

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs confirmed the prime minister asked the premiers to submit ideas to develop national guidelines with a goal of moving quickly.

“It’s certainly relevant to have a national program that we follow. As you recall, I was looking for that sort of standardization on the other end of this pandemic, so we would have some consistency across the country,” Higgs told Power and Politics host Vassy Kapelos.

“Having said that, I do believe every province is in their own unique situation and, as such, we won’t all be on the same page. Our degree of flexibility to move is very dependent on our provincial situation.”

The prime minister has said publicly that the provinces and territories will make their own final decisions on when pandemic measures are relaxed in their jurisdictions.

Cross-border concerns

But the sense at the federal level is that, as each province takes steps to reopen, there needs to be some set of common guidelines for companies operating in multiple jurisdictions or across provincial borders.

“The same sorts of markers are going to be important as they make their decisions” the federal official said. “They will know what reopening the store looks like.”

In addition to the Saskatchewan and New Brunswick plans, the federal government has circulated a set of draft guidelines that could form the basis of a joint document. The federal guidelines were prepared largely by the Public Health Agency of Canada and include feedback from provincial medical officers.

“People want to continue to see everybody working together on this,” said a provincial source who listened to the conference call.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to reporters on Friday. 2:10

During his daily pandemic press conference today (which occurred before the conference call), Trudeau spoke about the need for provinces and territories to follow similar guidelines as restrictions are eased.

“It will require a lot of coordination at the national level and our government will be there to do that work,” he said. “Things like ensuring proper levels of testing across the province and contact tracing, but other things like ensuring workplace safety.”

While decisions on reopening provincial economies ultimately lie with the premiers, Trudeau said the goal of nationwide coordination would be to ensure that the return of commercial life doesn’t spark new outbreaks of COVID-19.

“We need to make sure that as we look at economic reopening, we are grounding ourselves in the principles that’ll ensure that we don’t allow for further spread or a new spike of COVID-19 and if there are cases that start to re-surge, as likely will happen here and there, that we are able to manage control and reduce them rapidly,” he said.

Demand for PPE expected to spike

One concern is that the return of broader economic activity will add to the demand for scarce personal protective equipment (PPE). Workers in non-medical industries will want to be protected and the burn rate in existing stockpiles will only increase as elective surgeries resume — because every procedure will have to be approached as if the patient has COVID-19.

“Everything that opens up will require PPE until we get a vaccine,” said a provincial source. “The demand on PPE will skyrocket.”

Healthcare workers do testing at a drive-thru COVID-19 assessment centre at the Etobicoke General Hospital in Toronto on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Provincial sources say work on common guidelines will begin this weekend and the conference call heard a broad consensus on the benefits of having a consistent national message. One provincial source there’s also a political advantage in having the federal government play a direct role.

“Why wouldn’t we want the feds to be a part of all of this?” said the source. “There are going to be flare-ups and setbacks. If they are part of the reopening plan, they have to be part of the solution.”

The crisis in long-term care

The first ministers also discussed ways to deal with the pandemic tragedy in long-term care homes across the country. And while they talked about the need to boost health care transfers to the provinces, federal and provincial sources said Trudeau insisted it wasn’t the time to have that discussion.

Instead, the prime minister said he wants to focus on getting a federally funded salary increase to front-line essential workers, including long-term care workers. Sources said that while there has been progress in federal-provincial talks about that salary boost, there’s still no final agreement on how to make that happen.

During the call, Trudeau also repeated privately a message he delivered in his public briefing on Thursday — that when the pandemic crisis has passed, Canada needs to take a hard look at how it looks after its seniors.

“We are failing our parents, our grandparents, our elders, the greatest generation who built this country. We need to care for them properly,” he told the briefing.

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

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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 Press. All rights reserved.

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

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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