November 2012 Canadian Economic Fundamentals
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Canadian immigration ministers says he will reform student visa system
Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister, has said that he approves of measures taken by the British government to reform its student visa system and intends to reform the Canadian visa system along similar lines.
Mr Kenney was speaking to a UK newspaper while on a visit to the UK this week. He was asked what he thought about the UK Border Agency's decision to remove the Highly Trusted Sponsor status from London Metropolitan University in August 2012. The decision caused great controversy at the time and caused business and higher education bodies to warn that the attendant bad publicity would damage the UK's reputation as a destination for overseas students to take their degrees. However, Mr Kenney disagreed. He said that, in his view, the decision would, in fact, strengthen the UK's reputation.
Read the full article here.
Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister, has said that he approves of measures taken by the British government to reform its student visa system and intends to reform the Canadian visa system along similar lines.
Mr Kenney was speaking to a UK newspaper while on a visit to the UK this week. He was asked what he thought about the UK Border Agency's decision to remove the Highly Trusted Sponsor status from London Metropolitan University in August 2012. The decision caused great controversy at the time and caused business and higher education bodies to warn that the attendant bad publicity would damage the UK's reputation as a destination for overseas students to take their degrees. However, Mr Kenney disagreed. He said that, in his view, the decision would, in fact, strengthen the UK's reputation.
Read the full article here.
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Canada says tougher rules not yet felt fully in housing market
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday that it is too early to assess the impact on the heated housing market or tighter mortgage rules introduced earlier this year, even though there have been some signs of cooling.
"The full impact has not been felt yet," Flaherty told CTV Television in an interview.
He said there were several factors affecting the property market, including Canadian consumers heeding the repeated warnings by policy makers not to take on too much debt.
Read the full article here.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday that it is too early to assess the impact on the heated housing market or tighter mortgage rules introduced earlier this year, even though there have been some signs of cooling.
"The full impact has not been felt yet," Flaherty told CTV Television in an interview.
He said there were several factors affecting the property market, including Canadian consumers heeding the repeated warnings by policy makers not to take on too much debt.
Read the full article here.
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Boomers gambling home values will save them
Mortgage broker Steve Garganis sees more and more baby boomers adopting what he calls `the 10-year plan.`
It consists of buying up ` not down ` into the most expensive house they can afford in their 50s, even if the kids are gone, with the notion of cashing out as they ready for retirement.
Read the full article here.
Mortgage broker Steve Garganis sees more and more baby boomers adopting what he calls `the 10-year plan.`
It consists of buying up ` not down ` into the most expensive house they can afford in their 50s, even if the kids are gone, with the notion of cashing out as they ready for retirement.
Read the full article here.
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Canada GDP falls unexpectedly by 0.1% in August
The Canadian economy contracted for the first time in seven months in August, according to figures published by Statistics Canada on Wednesday.
This is the first monthly decline since February 2012, when the Canada economy contracted by 0.2 percent.
Gross domestic product generated by Canada dropped 0.1 percent in August, after rising 0.2 percent in July, missing expectations of 0.2 percent.
Read the full article here.
The Canadian economy contracted for the first time in seven months in August, according to figures published by Statistics Canada on Wednesday.
This is the first monthly decline since February 2012, when the Canada economy contracted by 0.2 percent.
Gross domestic product generated by Canada dropped 0.1 percent in August, after rising 0.2 percent in July, missing expectations of 0.2 percent.
Read the full article here.
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Canadian economy stalls in August
OTTAWA ` Canada`s economic expansion came to a surprising halt in August, posting the first decline since February and setting the stage for the worst quarter of economic activity in more than a year.
Real gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent over the month, with both temporary and fundamental factors taking the steam out of what economists had expected to be a relatively healthy 0.2 per cent advance.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cautioned against overreacting to the one-month setback, saying the economy is growing.
Read the full article here.
OTTAWA ` Canada`s economic expansion came to a surprising halt in August, posting the first decline since February and setting the stage for the worst quarter of economic activity in more than a year.
Real gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent over the month, with both temporary and fundamental factors taking the steam out of what economists had expected to be a relatively healthy 0.2 per cent advance.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cautioned against overreacting to the one-month setback, saying the economy is growing.
Read the full article here.
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New immigration rules ease Alberta labour crunch
An opportunity to do advanced research in biomedical engineering lured PhD student Pierre Wijdenes to Calgary from France two months ago.
Wijdenes, 24, isn`t sure if he`ll remain in Canada when he finishes his research and his student visa expires, but a federal announcement on Wednesday has cleared the way for a greater number of highly skilled foreigners like him to stay as permanent residents if they want.
Read the full article here.
An opportunity to do advanced research in biomedical engineering lured PhD student Pierre Wijdenes to Calgary from France two months ago.
Wijdenes, 24, isn`t sure if he`ll remain in Canada when he finishes his research and his student visa expires, but a federal announcement on Wednesday has cleared the way for a greater number of highly skilled foreigners like him to stay as permanent residents if they want.
Read the full article here.
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House flippers beware: You can't always sell your house tax free
My good friend Dave and his wife Linda got lost last weekend. They were following their GPS looking for a particular address when they ended up somewhere along a remote dirt road. `Dave, why don`t we just find someone and ask how to get where we`re going?` Linda suggested. Dave, like most normal men, believed that they weren`t all that lost. `I don`t want to stop to ask someone,` he replied. `We`re close ` I`ll get us there.`
Read the full article here.
My good friend Dave and his wife Linda got lost last weekend. They were following their GPS looking for a particular address when they ended up somewhere along a remote dirt road. `Dave, why don`t we just find someone and ask how to get where we`re going?` Linda suggested. Dave, like most normal men, believed that they weren`t all that lost. `I don`t want to stop to ask someone,` he replied. `We`re close ` I`ll get us there.`
Read the full article here.
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Dundee bets on Canada's housing market with new deal
One of Bay St.`s most famous names seems to think the housing market still has some legs to it.
Ned Goodman, chief executive of Dundee Capital Markets Inc., has made a move into the residential sector with the purchase of Sotheby`s International Realty Canada by one of his companies.
Read the full article here.
One of Bay St.`s most famous names seems to think the housing market still has some legs to it.
Ned Goodman, chief executive of Dundee Capital Markets Inc., has made a move into the residential sector with the purchase of Sotheby`s International Realty Canada by one of his companies.
Read the full article here.
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Who owns the oilsands?
National hand-wringing over foreign ownership of the oil sands, especially by state-owned enterprises, is spiking across the country. But while there has always been foreign participation in Canada`s most-capitalized natural resource, and that participation is increasing, an in-depth look at oil sands involvement shows that Canadians are still the dominant operators and employers.
Read the full article here.
National hand-wringing over foreign ownership of the oil sands, especially by state-owned enterprises, is spiking across the country. But while there has always been foreign participation in Canada`s most-capitalized natural resource, and that participation is increasing, an in-depth look at oil sands involvement shows that Canadians are still the dominant operators and employers.
Read the full article here.
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Energy sector deals with acute labour shortages
Any legitimate job offering $80,000-plus as a starting salary should be an easy sell to students in these troubled economic times, right? Wrong.
`Even in Alberta there is a poor connection in the K-12 education system to find balanced information about the oil and gas industry,` says Cheryl Knight, executive director and chief executive of the Petroleum HR Council of Canada. `The environmental messaging is much more attractive and probably easier to make interesting for students everywhere. It is a key problem that our industry faces, even just outside my door.`
Read the full article here.
Any legitimate job offering $80,000-plus as a starting salary should be an easy sell to students in these troubled economic times, right? Wrong.
`Even in Alberta there is a poor connection in the K-12 education system to find balanced information about the oil and gas industry,` says Cheryl Knight, executive director and chief executive of the Petroleum HR Council of Canada. `The environmental messaging is much more attractive and probably easier to make interesting for students everywhere. It is a key problem that our industry faces, even just outside my door.`
Read the full article here.
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RBC on today's job numbers
Average hourly wages for permanent workers were 3.9% higher than in October 2011
"Today's small rise in employment finished off a week of disappointing reports with real GDP having contracted by 0.1% in August and the October read on the RBC purchasing managers' index showing that the pace of growth in the manufacturing sector slowed for the fourth consecutive month. Having said that, both the labour report and manufacturing index still posted gains in October. Furthermore, the slow pace of hiring in October followed unsustainably strong gains in the prior two months and the unemployment rate has been range-bound between 7.2% and 7.4% for the past nine months. The slowing in the pace of growth in the third quarter as implied by the decline in the August GDP will likely prevent a significant decline in the unemployment in the near term.
Read the full article here.
Average hourly wages for permanent workers were 3.9% higher than in October 2011
"Today's small rise in employment finished off a week of disappointing reports with real GDP having contracted by 0.1% in August and the October read on the RBC purchasing managers' index showing that the pace of growth in the manufacturing sector slowed for the fourth consecutive month. Having said that, both the labour report and manufacturing index still posted gains in October. Furthermore, the slow pace of hiring in October followed unsustainably strong gains in the prior two months and the unemployment rate has been range-bound between 7.2% and 7.4% for the past nine months. The slowing in the pace of growth in the third quarter as implied by the decline in the August GDP will likely prevent a significant decline in the unemployment in the near term.
Read the full article here.
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Canadian economy hits skids in August
Canada's economic expansion came to a surprising halt in August, posting the first decline since February and setting the stage for the worst quarter of economic activity in more than a year.
Real gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent over the month, with both temporary and fundamental factors taking the steam out of what economists had expected to be a relatively healthy 0.2 per cent advance.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cautioned against overreacting to the one-month setback, saying the economy is growing.
Read the full article here.
Canada's economic expansion came to a surprising halt in August, posting the first decline since February and setting the stage for the worst quarter of economic activity in more than a year.
Real gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent over the month, with both temporary and fundamental factors taking the steam out of what economists had expected to be a relatively healthy 0.2 per cent advance.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cautioned against overreacting to the one-month setback, saying the economy is growing.
Read the full article here.
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Job gains stall in Canada after strong summer
Canada's recent strong jobs performance slowed to a crawl in October, as the economy managed a meagre 1,800 new jobs, not enough to nudge the unemployment rate off 7.4 per cent.
But it was the surprisingly strong number south of the border that impressed economists, with the U.S. reporting an above-consensus 171,000 additional jobs, all in the private sector. As well, U.S. employment for September and August were revised upwards.
Read the full article here.
Canada's recent strong jobs performance slowed to a crawl in October, as the economy managed a meagre 1,800 new jobs, not enough to nudge the unemployment rate off 7.4 per cent.
But it was the surprisingly strong number south of the border that impressed economists, with the U.S. reporting an above-consensus 171,000 additional jobs, all in the private sector. As well, U.S. employment for September and August were revised upwards.
Read the full article here.
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Canada braces as housing slowdown takes hold
TORONTO - Long convinced the country's housing boom would never end in a crash, Canadians have watched this autumn as a sharp slowdown in real estate spreads across the country, leaving would-be home buyers hopeful and sellers scared.
"The power is in the hands of the buyer - that's what I'm feeling," said Andria Petrillo, 32, as she and her husband toured a quiet open house in the heart of Toronto, where crowds and chaos once reigned over weekend home showings.
Read the full article here.
TORONTO - Long convinced the country's housing boom would never end in a crash, Canadians have watched this autumn as a sharp slowdown in real estate spreads across the country, leaving would-be home buyers hopeful and sellers scared.
"The power is in the hands of the buyer - that's what I'm feeling," said Andria Petrillo, 32, as she and her husband toured a quiet open house in the heart of Toronto, where crowds and chaos once reigned over weekend home showings.
Read the full article here.
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Baby boomers will impact the real estate market
Over the past several years, Canada`s real estate market has experienced a coast-to-coast cool down of sales activity and a correction in housing prices.
But what has yet to be brought into the equation for the future housing forecast is the effect that baby boomers will have on the market.
The baby boomer generation refers to the estimated 10 million people who were born between the years of 1946 and 1964.
Read the full article here.
Over the past several years, Canada`s real estate market has experienced a coast-to-coast cool down of sales activity and a correction in housing prices.
But what has yet to be brought into the equation for the future housing forecast is the effect that baby boomers will have on the market.
The baby boomer generation refers to the estimated 10 million people who were born between the years of 1946 and 1964.
Read the full article here.
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Ottawa may get what it wants and more
Back in the spring, the feds were wishing that housing wasn`t so hot. They wished that mortgage growth wasn`t so robust. And now, CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld is telling us: `Ottawa has to be careful what it wishes for.`
Shenfeld issued that warning in this report released last week. He was, of course, referencing federal mortgage policies aimed at slowing residential real estate.
Read the full article here.
Back in the spring, the feds were wishing that housing wasn`t so hot. They wished that mortgage growth wasn`t so robust. And now, CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld is telling us: `Ottawa has to be careful what it wishes for.`
Shenfeld issued that warning in this report released last week. He was, of course, referencing federal mortgage policies aimed at slowing residential real estate.
Read the full article here.
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RBC Economics Research Releases Latest Provincial Statistics
The updated edition of RBC Economics Research's "Provincial Fiscal Tables" is now posted on our website (see link below).
It includes updated numbers as reported in the New Brunswick 2012-2013 Second Quarter Report released today.
Link to `Provincial Fiscal Tables`
To view, print and download this report, click on the following link:
http://www.rbc.com/economics/market/pdf/prov_fiscal.pdf
The updated edition of RBC Economics Research's "Provincial Fiscal Tables" is now posted on our website (see link below).
It includes updated numbers as reported in the New Brunswick 2012-2013 Second Quarter Report released today.
Link to `Provincial Fiscal Tables`
To view, print and download this report, click on the following link:
http://www.rbc.com/economics/market/pdf/prov_fiscal.pdf
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Our debt isn't like their debt
CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal sounds like he`s getting tired of the comparisons linking the Canadian housing market to a U.S. style crash.
Canada is just not going to have a severe crash, he says in a report dubbed `Should We Worry About a U.S. Style Housing Meltdown?
Read the full article here.
CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal sounds like he`s getting tired of the comparisons linking the Canadian housing market to a U.S. style crash.
Canada is just not going to have a severe crash, he says in a report dubbed `Should We Worry About a U.S. Style Housing Meltdown?
Read the full article here.
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Calgary's housing market remains immune to chills across Canada
House Price Index, Canada has recently cited the largest price drop since November, 2010. In September, the HPI plunged 0.35% from previous month. A significant price drop was observed in six major cities including Vancouver and Montreal. Meanwhile, CTV reports that the official stats to point out a completely contrasting situation in Calgary where housing demands and prices are increasing simultaneously.
According to Marcus Arkan, CTO of Syndicate Mortgages, there are plenty of lessons to be learned from the current situation of Calgary where both the housing market and the economy are blooming right now. `There are a lot of buyers in the market and they want to explore their options as well. Due to economic stability in the region, the affordability factor is not much of a problem for people in Calgary. Although the prices are expected to rise again in the next quarter, we are quite confident that the interest of buyers will remain intact,` Mr. Arkan predicted.
Mr. Arkan`s prediction is based on the current report published by the first BMO Housing Confidence Report published this October. According to the report, Calgary is leading all the major cities in terms of homeowners` intentions to buy new home within the next five years. BMO`s Housing Confidence Survey reports that 62 percent of homebuyers in Calgary are willing to buy homes including first-time buyers. This is despite the expected 2 percent rise in prices forecasted by BMO.
Read the full article here.
House Price Index, Canada has recently cited the largest price drop since November, 2010. In September, the HPI plunged 0.35% from previous month. A significant price drop was observed in six major cities including Vancouver and Montreal. Meanwhile, CTV reports that the official stats to point out a completely contrasting situation in Calgary where housing demands and prices are increasing simultaneously.
According to Marcus Arkan, CTO of Syndicate Mortgages, there are plenty of lessons to be learned from the current situation of Calgary where both the housing market and the economy are blooming right now. `There are a lot of buyers in the market and they want to explore their options as well. Due to economic stability in the region, the affordability factor is not much of a problem for people in Calgary. Although the prices are expected to rise again in the next quarter, we are quite confident that the interest of buyers will remain intact,` Mr. Arkan predicted.
Mr. Arkan`s prediction is based on the current report published by the first BMO Housing Confidence Report published this October. According to the report, Calgary is leading all the major cities in terms of homeowners` intentions to buy new home within the next five years. BMO`s Housing Confidence Survey reports that 62 percent of homebuyers in Calgary are willing to buy homes including first-time buyers. This is despite the expected 2 percent rise in prices forecasted by BMO.
Read the full article here.