Jock Finlayson
B.C.’s biggest export industry hit hard by NDP’s old-growth plan
The BC NDP government’s recent announcement that it intends to defer logging in 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest has sent shock waves through the industry. It is also causing perturbations...
WorkSafeBC overhaul could have huge employer cost implications
WorkSafeBC is a complex organization that plays an important role in today’s economy. According to its website, WorksafeBC is: … a provincial agency dedicated to promoting safe and healthy workplaces...
Canada’s debt load a burden on the country’s financial well-being
An unnecessary election call followed by a dispiriting campaign hasn’t created a favourable environment in which to consider the longer-term issues that will impinge on Canada’s economic prospects....
Demographics, worker supply complicate labour shortage puzzle
As economies across most of the developed world reopen after struggling through seemingly endless months of COVID-19, the revival in labour demand has taken many employers and policymakers by...
Tax regime undermining B.C.’s ability to compete for top tech talent
B.C.’s diverse advanced technology industry, and professional, scientific and technical services more broadly, have been expanding rapidly over the past decade. The pandemic accelerated many of the...
Spring slowdown obscures sunnier outlook for B.C. jobs market
Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey confirms that the rebound in employment from the COVID shock stalled over the spring. Nationally, the labour market shed 275,000 jobs in April and May...
Federal budget missing productivity-driven economic growth plan
The Justin Trudeau government’s sprawling 2021 federal budget clocks in at almost 750 pages. The government has not tabled a budget in more than two years, so the document provides much-needed...
Provincial government needs to do more to buoy B.C.’s per capita GDP
Back in the Great Recession, real per capita GDP in B.C. fell for two consecutive years so that by 2009 it was 4.7% lower than in 2007. This means that adjusted for inflation, the output of all...
Canada, U.S. likely to apply brakes to post-pandemic inflation
While Canada seems unable to put the COVID-19 health crisis behind it, around the world economies are rebounding and the overall global outlook has improved. The April 2021 forecast from the...
Real estate rolling on rock-bottom costs of borrowing
Royal Bank economists recently published an update on the Canadian housing market. The findings are remarkable, considering the country is still mired in an epic health crisis, and there is much...