Finance

Advancing Canada’s Arctic Agenda?

September 1, 2010
Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured Canada's Arctic last week for the fifth time since he took office, in an effort to reaffirm Canada's claims to the region. In 2009, Harper's tour resulted in the establishment of an official Northern strategy and the creation of CanNor, a regional economic development agency, in the interest of supporting socio-economic development, Canada's Northern sovereignty, the improvement of Northern governance, and the protection of the Northern environment. This year Harper's weeklong tour demonstrated that the federal government aims to reinforce these goals.

Featured Report: Infrastructure Stimulus Fund – Performance Update to March 31, 2010

August 13, 2010
Released August 9, 2010, this latest report on the Canadian federal government's Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF), reveals some interesting assessments on the progress of the program's implementation. This report, the third in a series completed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, found that essentially all of the CDN$4 billion in program spending has been allocated, but that there have been notable delays in project start  dates when compared to original projections.

Housing Clouds Economic Recovery

August 26, 2010
A plunge in U.S. home sales and uncertainty over the Obama administration's housing policy plans are fueling fears about another looming recession. Sales of previously owned homes fell 27.2 percent in July, the lowest level in over a decade, followed by a sharp drop in new U.S. home sales, leading economists to predict a further decline in housing prices (WSJ), which stabilized last year. Such declines, coupled with high unemployment and slow hiring, could further depress consumer spending, key to short-term recovery (WashPost).

Crisis No More: The Success of Obama's Stimulus Program

August 24, 2010
The recession that began in December 2007 ranks as the worst since World War II. It carved a huge slice out of Americans’ financial wealth and caused the biggest percentage decline in employment of the post-war era. Even though the stock market rebounded in 2009 and U.S. output began to grow in the second half of that year, the recession continues to take a terrible toll on the incomes and psychological health of many families. Read more

Strong loonie 'makes sense' Flaherty says

August 13, 2010
The rise in Canada's currency "makes sense" because investors are snapping up the country's assets and the economy is growing nicely, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said yesterday. It's a different world from the heady days of 2007, when the Canadian dollar zoomed up to a high near US$1.10, Mr. Flaherty said. Then, speculators were at the heart of the rise, he said, while this time he credits the strong economy. "There's more demand for Canadian investments. So the upward pressure on the dollar to me makes sense," said Mr.

Obama's Economic Policies Were Not Pretty, But They Were Right

August 5, 2010
President Obama inherited the scariest and most dangerous economic situation in more than 50 years. The economy was in free fall in the spring of 2009, with GDP plunging and employment declining at the rate of 700,000 jobs a month. The financial sector was on the verge of collapse, both in the United States and around the world. The two big policies used to turn around the economic situation, the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) and the stimulus package, were the right ones, and they have worked as well or better than could have been expected. Read more

Canadian federal deficit narrows to $4.4-billion

August 3, 2010
New numbers from the Finance Department indicate the stronger economy is helping the federal government run smaller budget deficits than at the same time last year, as tax revenues increase. Through the first two months of the current fiscal year, April and May, Canada's deficit sits at $4.4-billion, compared with $7.5-billion in the same period of 2009 when the economy was still in recession.

Greater Transparency Needed From Bank of Canada on Rate-Setting

July 27, 2010
Financial market participants would benefit from a better understanding of how the Bank of Canada sets the overnight interest rate in response to economic developments, proclaims the C.D. Howe Institute. The study suggests that more accurate forecasts of the Bank’s future policy choices would lead to better financial decisions and better price and wage-setting decisions. Read more

U.S. envoy plays up Canada's role in economic recovery

July 23, 2010
THOUGH he's only held his office for 10 months, United States ambassador David Jacobson can already name a lot of things he admires about Canada. For instance, there's our firmly regulated banks, which did not require a nearly trillion-dollar bailout in 2009. Then there's our housing market, which didn't collapse last year. Both of those features are now a model of success in a tumultuous global economy, Jacobson told the Free Press. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/us-envoy-plays-up-canadas-role-in-economic-recovery-98905069.html

Obama's Remarks on the Passage of Financial Regulatory Reform, July 2010

July 23, 2010
THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  With today’s vote in the Senate, the United States Congress has now passed a Wall Street reform bill that will bring greater economic security to families and businesses across the country. It was clear from the moment it began that this recession was not the result of your typical economic downturn.  It was the result of recklessness and irresponsibility in certain corners of Wall Street that infected the entire economy –- irresponsibility that cost millions of Americans their jobs, and millions more their hard-earned savings.  It’s