A new solar panel array is installed in Scugog, Ont. on April 27, 2016.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Executives from an array of low-carbon industries are attempting a show of strength on Parliament Hill this week, at a precarious point in Canada’s efforts to keep pace with the United States and other countries prioritizing low-carbon economic growth.
Although representatives of specific sectors frequently show up in Ottawa to press members of Parliament for support, the gathering on Tuesday and Wednesday – featuring approximately 45 leaders of companies, industry associations, organized labour and Indigenous business groups – is aiming for something wider and more symbolic.
Based on interviews with some of those representatives and with the climate-focused Ivey Foundation – which along with the non-governmental organizations Clean Energy Canada and the Transition Accelerator is co-ordinating the effort – the idea is to have different corners of the clean-economy transition form a united front in a way they have not previously.
Branded New Economy Canada, it’s something of an experiment in whether co-ordination can build a degree of cross-partisan consensus about the need to implement regulatory reforms, industrial subsidies and financing mechanisms, and other measures to expedite that transition.
The list of participants has clearly been curated to showcase the range of economic activity that organizers hope will prove irresistible, even to politicians for whom Canada’s emissions-reduction commitments may not be a priority.
It spans from renewable electricity producers such as Northland Power Inc. and energy storage players such as Hydrostor Inc., to mining giants including Teck Resources Ltd.TECK-B-T and the more junior E3 Lithium Inc. ETL-X, to environmental, social and governance-focused asset managers such as Addenda Capital Inc. And it runs the gamut from Canadian startups to domestic wings of multinationals, such as GE Canada.
Participating industry organizations represent both relatively new segments of the economy (the Battery Metals Association of Canada) and established sectors with decarbonization ambitions (the Cement Association of Canada). Others range from the First Nations Major Project Coalition to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The plan for them in Ottawa is to break off into small groups, each featuring a cross-section of sectors, which will sit down with MPs and political staff to press their case. Organizers said they have secured meetings with members of each federal party.
That in itself may be a small victory. Part of the impetus behind the event is to light a fire under the governing Liberals to swiftly follow up on commitments in this spring’s budget to stay competitive with the United States as it rolls out hundreds of billions of dollars in clean-economy spending through its Inflation Reduction Act. But there is also a perceived need to engage with the opposition Conservatives, who under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership have thus far displayed little interest in climate-related policies, to try to ensure they maintain such efforts if they win government in the coming years.
“When I look at what we build, these are multidecade projects that involve hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Colleen Giroux-Schmidt, a vice-president with another participant, Quebec-based Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. That points, she suggested, to the need for investors to have confidence that policies will be durable through changes in government.
The program for a New Economy Canada reception being held on Tuesday evening also seems intended to catch the Tories’ attention. One of its featured speakers is former Conservative MP Joe Preston, who now serves as mayor of St. Thomas, Ont. – home to the massive new Volkswagen electric-vehicle battery plant that Ottawa will heavily subsidize.
Somewhat less clear is the precise message that companies will be delivering to MPs during all their meetings – or how New Economy Canada might evolve after this week’s initial event.
It is, by the acknowledgment of those involved, a fairly ad hoc undertaking. And there is recognition that messages must be kept fairly broad, given differing policy needs of the sectors involved, and limited work put in thus far to determine where they intersect.
Some of the companies are nevertheless eager to seize the chance to convey to policy makers their own key messages, applicable to the fields they’re in, if not the entire sweep of low-carbon industries.
Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. vice-president Julie Paquet – whose company touts its sustainable mining practices but whose first major project, in Quebec, has attracted local concern about environmental effects – expressed hope about being able to “deconstruct some of the myths that might be plaguing some of our companies.” That includes, she said, trying to persuade left-of-centre MPs to set aside pre-existing impressions of how the mining sector operates.
Addenda Capital, meanwhile, sees some opportunity to push for policies that provide greater accountability and transparency to guide investors through myriad net-zero and ESG commitments currently being made. One example, cited by senior director Andrea Moffat, is trying to get the government to act on the framework for a green taxonomy – a rulebook for what qualifies as a sustainable investment – that was developed last year by a government-appointed expert panel.
Then there is Alberta’s Kiwetinohk Energy Corp. KEC-T, which occupies a unique place as a self-described energy transition company that produces oil and gas, but is also developing renewables and wants to primarily become a supplier of low-emissions electricity. “I honestly don’t know why we were invited to this particular event,” chief executive Pat Carlson said, but he’s going because he sees it as an opportunity to educate politicians about his company’s unusual story and ambitions.
Whether it coalesces into a coherent case – or offers lessons about what works and doesn’t, in terms of enlightening politicians about the path to clean-economy competitiveness – will seemingly determine if the effort proves a one-off or develops into something more structured.
“I don’t think two days in Ottawa will be enough education,” said Ivey Foundation senior adviser Merran Smith. “But we’ll see how it goes and determine next steps.”
For now, there is a feeling among the businesses that at least trying to capture politicians’ attention with a shared vision, rather than advancing interests as smaller emerging sectors that don’t all yet have as much clout on their own, is overdue.
“We tend to be siloed into our different segments of the economy,” said Ms. Giroux-Schmidt, of Innergex. “We’ve been looking for a unified voice like this for quite a while.”
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.
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