The Trials and Tribulation of Canada’s Economic Action Plan
Beginning in 2007 and reaching critical mass in 2008, repercussions of economic downturn were being felt by nations across the globe. In North America, the collapse of the United States housing and mortgage market along with the wreckless actions of financial institutions and Wall Street can be identified as some of the main triggers in the downturn. Other nations were feeling declines as well, and the eventual decline in some European Union countries further contributed to this worldwide situation. This economic downward spiral quickly made its way into Canada, and was a huge issue of concern during the 2008 federal election. Out of this federal election walked a minority elected
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The Department of Finance Canada (2009) developed the plan to tackle five main points in regards to the economy and they are as follows. Their first element was action to stimulate spending: this was achieved by providing $8.3 billion into trades and other skills in an effort to help Canadians develop and attain in demand skills that would benefit even further into the future. Secondly $7.8 billion was injected into the home construction sector; this was done to promote growth of jobs in the construction industry and provide more high quality homes for Canadians. The Departments third element, and one of the most “visible” Action Plan elements was the goal of developing, expanding and upgrading our infrastructure through the stimulus of $12 billion. Relief was allotted as well for some of Canada’s biggest sectors: the auto, forestry and manufacturing industries received special funding of $7.5 billion to help them and the communities these industries are in. And the final element the Department of Finance noted was an effort to spend to continuously improve Canada’s financial system and improve Canadian citizens access to such …show more content…
Along with these specific relief zones, the government also worked to ensure that citizens received appropriate tax breaks and were given the incentive to engage in future skill development to help for tomorrow. Initiatives ensured things like Employment Insurance (EI) resources were increased and strengthened in order to further help those that had lost jobs in the downturn and were unsuccessful trying to re-enter the workforce. Grants and scholarships were also increased; especially in the trade fields were demand for skilled workers and apprentices was substantial. When the Action Plan was initially conceived and approved in the Canadian budget, it was a program intended to bet temporary. The initiatives that came out of it that were related to the stimulus of the construction sector and infrastructure development were initially to be over in two years before a deadline of the end of March, 2011 (Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2011). However some of the programs developed were not going to be able to meet this deadline due to delays, and the federal government sanctioned an extension of the deadline to October of
The Great Depression was a terrible point in Canadian history, and for most of the world. It was a point in time where thousands of people lost their jobs, and even lost their homes because of the depressed economy. Business was booming in the early 1920s, but when companies tried to expand, and therefore issued stocks, the economy was thrown off. Some investors sold their stocks for high prices, and as a result, everyone else followed. With less of a demand, stock prices became fractions of what they used to be, and on October 29, 1929, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, followed by the Toronto and Montreal Stock exchanges. This collapse of the stock markets caused a depression like which the world had never seen before. It was
Despite of trump’s decision to rescind the north america free trade agreement that would cause pain to american businesses and workers, US-canada free trade deal goes back into effect. Thirty five american states,most in the northeastern industrial belt, have canada as their largest export market.canada has not been on trumps trade radar in the past. American economic self interest dictates its commerce with canada remain unencumbered. It follows that international corporations looking for a toehold in north america may soon find canada a useful port of call. Trump is also supporting canada in building keystone XL pipeline as that is considered to be a cleaner and safer mode of transporting crude than rail.
Brian Mulroney was Canada’s 18th prime minister and he had helped trading with America easier by trying to improve the relationship between the two countries . He won the election as the leader of the Progressive Conservative in June 1983. Brian had a lot he wanted to change,one of those things was making trade easier with Canada so that Canada’s economy would improve or at least stay stable. As a prime minister Brian had spent a lot of time helping Canada improve and since his election date,this took place between the years 1984 to 1993. Brian Mulroney became prime minister because people voted for him as well as the promises he had brought in with him being prime minister.
After 11 consecutive years of being in power, the Conservative Party led by Mr. steven harper which believed in individual responsibility economically have been defeated during the election. They were defeated by the Liberal Party led by Mr.Justin Trudeau The Liberal Party believe the government has responsibility for helping families, individuals, and communities who have economic difficulties. They also believe in creating social programs that support the communities such as the welfare system. It is a system that gives money to people
After reading Dinner Party Economics, written by Eveline J. Admit and Richard G. Maranta, I find myself asking many questions. One of which is how Canada is doing with macroeconomics policy and the political debate. Today, March 2016, Canada is not doing its best job. With the current price of the Canadian Dollar, our economy is not in good shape. In the past year, the Canadian Dollar has taken a huge dive. With the rising costs of living, Canadians are finding it harder each year to afford basic needs for their families. Gas prices and fresh food at markets continue to rise to record levels. The unemployment rate in Canada also continues to rise. With less people working full time jobs, families are finding it very difficult to support a family
Pierre Trudeau’s policies on the economy benefitted Canada. Trudeau introduced many new support programs. They included increased unemployment insurance, benefits for maternity leave, and a youth employment program. The programs ensured more money for Canadians. Citizens were able to buy more and the increased spending aided to Trudeau’s “Just Society.” Pierre Trudeau was able to control foreign investment. The Canada Development Corporation (CDC) was created by Trudeau to help with the issue of foreign investment. The CDC bought back companies that were owned by foreign investors. The Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA) was created in 1973. The organization approved foreign investments of Canadian companies. This regulated foreign investment which helped more Canadians to continue to own their businesses. In 1982, Trudeau established the “6 and 5” program. The program limited federal employees with the amount of wage increase they would receive. Federal employees would receive a 6% wage increase in the first year, and then a 5% increase the following year. Pierre Trudeau encouraged provinces and businesses to follow this policy as
Department of Finance Canada (2009) states Canada has been significantly affected by the global recession and Canadian economy growth began to slow in the fourth quarter of 2008. Real GDP declined by 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. Although Canadian economy is being affected by the global recession, the Canadian economy is still better than other industrialized countries (CMA Business Case)
The recession of 2008 is also called the ‘Great Recession’, said to have begun in December 2007, and took a turn for the worse in September 2008, and it was a severe economic problem expanded globally. This recession affected the world economy, and is said to have been the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. The decline in the Dow Jones this time was -53.8%. Since the official start of the recession in December 2007, and through June 2010 there have been about 2.3 million homes foreclosed in the United States. In 2012, the state with the most foreclosures in January alone was California, with 51,584 houses being repossessed. Unemployment during this collapse was 8.5%, and continued to increase to about 10% as of 2010. People’s reaction to this recession was a huge decrease in spending and borrowing from banks, but an increase in saving.
They write, “In response to the massive unemployment of the 1930’s, Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1933 introduced the first federal relief programs targeted at the poor and unemployed… he anticipated that the work relief jobs would boost consumer spending and thus increase demand for labor, which would then raise private employment and earnings.” (Neuman, Fishback, Kanton, pg 4) This quotes illustrates that programs such as these relief jobs, would not only be able to get the people back to work, but also get the economy up and running again.
The Great Depression affected not only the political parties, but crippled the population as a whole. Most Canadians had no money to spend or pay their bills after the Stock Market Crash and many used all their possessions as collateral, a very risky move, and lost everything. Also, the unemployment rate skyrocketed; one in every four lost their job so they couldn’t re-earn what they lost. For those who had the luck of staying employed, their pay went down exponentially; but the workers could not protest because a bad job is better than no job. Not to mention that it gave them status as a citizen. Because of unemployment, many people become hobos and transients, traveling from city to city on box cars,
Millions were out of work. The government began public works projects to help bring growth back to the economy
Besides providing an orderly society, the government also has to promote the economic system for people to have better life and working opportunities. Canada’s economy system is capitalism. It promotes free enterprise, free trading, innovation, and private ownership. Sometimes, Canada also referred to as a mixed economy because goods and services can be both produced and provided by governments and private companies, and public and private ownership are also involved. The government in Canada’s economic system primarily plays a strategic role; such as foreign ownership, plans economic policies, and making laws to regulate the market.
Most say the onset of the Great Depression was spurred on by the stock market crash. Although economists don’t think that it was the only reason for Canada being in such a terrible state. In the 20s, people had, in their spending frenzy, bought large quantities of stock though credit, stock that they could not afford. People owed money to businesses and banks, and accumulated debts that they couldn’t pay off. In 1929, when it came time to pay, they didn’t have the money, and profits dropped drastically. The values of the stock became completely worthless. With no money and no jobs, people had to leave their homes either because they couldn’t pay for them, or they moved to search for a job.
The following essay will thoroughly examine the severe economic downturn of 2008, formerly known as the housing bubble collapse. We will mainly focus our discussion on the effects the financial crisis had on Canada and the U.S and examine why both countries were affected differently. Although the collapse of the housing bubble is the most identifiable cause, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint one specific defining moment or event triggering the global financial collapse. There are many factors involved, due to the complex nature of the financial systems across the world, and this paper will delve in the key contributing variables that led to this financial crises.
This clearly shows that Mackenzie King and Bennett had no idea of what to do and therefore gave the responsibility to the provinces, just so that they do not take the blame. The result of their ignorance was fiscal collapse for the four western provinces and hundreds of municipalities and haphazard, degrading standards of care for the jobless. Monthly relief rates for a family of five varies from $60 in Calgary to $19 in Halifax. Although there were no official starvation, reports by medical authorities of scurvy and other diet deficiency diseases were common throughout the decade” . This shows that Bennett’s and Mackenzie King’s ignorance did not just keep the unemployed jobless, but they made it even worse. The result of their ignorance lead to the collapse of 4 provinces in the west, and degradation of standard of care for the jobless. Their ignorance brought diseases to those to whom they ignored. Instead of Bennett and Mackenzie King fixing an extremely important issue, they just made it worse. The unemployed could not count on the federal government, but also, the unemployed had no other option. The US managed to control the Depression more efficiently than Canada, and therefore people preferred to live in the US than in Canada. The government failed at resolving the unemployment