HALIFAX — When you line it up against other major Canadian cities, Halifax weathered the Covid-19 pandemic better than any other.
The city’s CAO and leaders from the Halifax Partnership gave an economic update to Halifax Regional Council this week — and it contained a fair amount of good news.
Jacques Dubé told council the city’s GDP contracted by 1.9 percent in 2020. That’s the lowest among major Canadian cities.
And projections show a strong GDP rebound is coming.
Dubé said Halifax’s GDP is expected to grow by 5.7 percent by the end of 2021, and then return to a “more normal” range of about 2 percent in the ensuing years.
The city also did very well attracting new residents during the pandemic.
Population growth in Halifax was down between July 2019 and June 2020 but only compared to the record-breaking previous year.
The period from 2019 to 2020 saw the city hit its second-highest level of population growth ever, driven largely by immigration.
Newly released population estimates for July 2020 to June 2021 also show strong population growth, although that is due more to people coming from other provinces, rather than other countries.
“What is different in this year is that international immigration, unsurprisingly, is down sharply while in-migration from other provinces, particularly Ontario, has jumped, Dube said.
Meanwhile, Halifax led Canadian cities in employment growth in early 2021. Unemployment did go up during the third wave in the spring but has since begun to drop again, sitting at 7.4 percent in August.
Long before the end of 2020, the city had also regained the jobs it lost at the beginning of the pandemic.
“In aggregate, we regained our Covid employment losses by the fall of 2020,” the Halifax Partnership’s Ian Munro said.
In May of 2020, Halifax had lost about 23,200 jobs. By September, it was already above pre-pandemic levels by 1,100 jobs.
Even after a dip during the third wave, Halifax still had 7,400 more jobs in August than it did before the pandemic hit.
There are, however, some concerning effects stemming from the city’s strong economic showing.
For one, house prices continue to rise sharply in Halifax.
The last few months had seen prices start to go down in the city. However, Munro pointed out the average cost of a home in September was just under $472,000. That’s a 6.6 percent jump from the month before, and well over 20 percent higher than September of last year.
The $472,000 price tag puts Halifax homes “close to the peak” of their highest prices ever.
Consumer goods are also getting more expensive. Halifax saw a year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 4.8 percent in August. The increase is 2.8 percent since January 2021.
Travel into the province is still lagging, as well.
Although not nearly as low as it was during the height of Covid-19, passenger counts at the Halifax airport remain well below pre-pandemic levels.
In August, 192,665 people passed through the airport. That’s compared to 486,551 who flew into or out of Halifax in August of 2019. There are still no cruise ship passengers coming to the city.
Overall, however, council appeared pleased with the news.
“It’s been great to see what’s happened in Halifax,” Mayor Mike Savage said after the presentation.
Trevor Nichols is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
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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 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.
