Jock Finlayson
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...
Less public debt, more private sector help key to Canada’s recovery
As Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland works to develop the federal government’s 2021 budget, she faces conflicting pressures and numerous constraints. To start, the country is still grappling with...
COVID’s creative destruction is cause for productivity optimism
Amid the human carnage and economic pain caused by the COVID-19 calamity, it is tempting to search for silver linings. One that is attracting interest among some economists is the prospect of a...
Outlook: Exports up and other reasons for cautious economic optimism in 2021
As we wave goodbye to a truly awful 2020, there are reasons to feel at least somewhat hopeful about the year to come. The first and most important is the arrival of vaccines against the virus that...
Stimulus, megaprojects buoy B.C. labour market during pandemic
As we reflect on the last 12 months, it’s an understatement to say 2020 is shaping up to be an extraordinary year, and not in a positive sense. The coronavirus and the resulting shuttering of...