VANCOUVER — Housing, the climate, tackling wildfires, and Canada’s economy were among the topics federal leaders focused on on day four of the election campaign.
Speaking in Burnaby, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh met with a young couple to talk about affordability and housing before speaking with the media.
“This is Justin Trudeau’s housing crisis,” Singh said, joined by, Jim Hanson, the NDP’s candidate for Burnaby North-Seymour.
“We’ve got a chart here that lays out how the price of housing has increased over the past number of years, and the reality is over the past six years, things have just gotten so much worse. People cannot find a home that’s in their budget.”
Saying many young people are putting their lives on hold because they can’t afford a place to live, Singh once again put the blame on Trudeau, adding he “let this happen.”
“We know one of the big causes is there’s a lot of big money in housing,” he told reporters, adding the NDP promises to “take big money out of housing so that it’s not people competing with large and wealthy corporations, but it’s people actually trying to get a home that’s in their budget.”
Singh also vowed to build half a million more affordable homes and promised to go after foreign buyers, saying a 20 per cent levy should be slapped on any home sale if the buyer isn’t a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
The Liberal leader was also in B.C. Wednesday, speaking from Vancouver.
Trudeau’s campaign stop was focused on a subject that has been top of mind for British Columbians and many other Canadians of late: wildfires and rising temperatures.
“Everyone knows I’m a son of Quebec but I’m also a proud son and grandson of British Columbia,” Trudeau said, trying to appeal to B.C. voters.
“I know this has been a really tough time for people across the province,” he explained, noting record temperatures, ongoing wildfires, and the devastation that’s ensued — including the destruction of the entire village of Lytton.
The Liberal leader says this season has and continues to show more resources are needed to fight wildfires and keep communities safe. If re-elected, Trudeau says the Liberal Party promises to invest $500 million ahead of the next season for firefighters and equipment.
“To begin with, we’ll train at least 1,000 more firefighters in communities across the country who will be able to mobilize right away when major burn starts,” he said.
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Trudeau is also promising to invest hundreds of millions of dollars so provinces can buy the equipment they need, such as water bombers, so they don’t have to rely on other jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole took aim at the Liberals and NDP on Wednesday, the same day Statistics Canada released its inflation numbers for July.
O’Toole is blaming his political opponents for the decade-high pace of price growth that was reported, with the inflation rate in July hitting 3.7 per cent, the highest year-over-year increase since May 2011.
The Tory leader said the Liberal government’s approach to the economy is fuelling the increase and is pinning the elevated reading on Trudeau and Singh.
If elected, O’Toole said he would take actions to curb inflation.
“Canada’s recovery plan addresses that. We get the country working, we get the economy growing, we address the overspending by Mr. Trudeau, and we help direct families — we give a $1 raise for working families,” he said from Quebec City.
He said Canadians have a right to be concerned about skyrocketing prices.
“The highest inflation numbers in two decades should worry Canadians. Mr. Trudeau’s spending, Mr. Trudeau’s economic approach is leading to inflation.
People are not being able to afford groceries, gas. We’re already in a housing crisis, for seniors on fixed income, for families at the margins.”
O’Toole also promoted his plan to toughen up the country’s ethics laws.
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.
