Search Results

Une chatte n’y retrouverait pas ses petits dans le fatras de chiffres présentés dans l’énoncé économique de la ministre des Finances Chrystia Freeland, lundi dernier. À telle enseigne que la Nationale s’excusait dans une note à ses clients d’une « explication quelque peu tortueuse ». Comment y voir clair quand l’économie et les finances publiques baignent encore dans une grande…

We knew the number would be big. Just how big was the question. Statistics Canada released its initial estimate of second-quarter GDP on Friday. Output dropped by 11.5 per cent compared with first-quarter GDP and by a little over 13 per cent compared with the second quarter of 2019. This is the largest recorded quarterly decline since Statistics Canada began reporting quarterly GDP numbers in…

Since the previous recession in 2008-09, the so-called gig economy and platform work have been growing globally and in Canada. The growth is mainly due to technological and economic changes and the desire for greater flexibility by workers and employers. However, the legal employment framework remains outdated. The COVID-19 crisis has a strong potential to exacerbate the trend by shifting more…

The Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was an early and critical element in the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. The government first announced the CERB in late March, promising $2,000 a month for up to four months for workers who have lost their incomes as a result of the pandemic. In mid-April, it expanded eligibility to make the CERB available to people earning up…

A global pandemic that has crushed the economy. A stock market improbably rising in an economic downturn. Is it the job of the Bank of Canada to address this contradiction, and the inequality that arises? Not directly, but the link between monetary policy and inequality is very real and affects the ability of the central bank to reliably hit its 2-per-cent inflation target. In March and April,…

Last week’s federal fiscal snapshot unveiled numbers so awful that a reasonable person might suspect an expectations-management exercise. The projected deficit of $343 billion for this year was nearly $100 billion worse than the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s June 18 projection and $40 billion worse than the most pessimistic numbers circulating. If realized, it would be the…