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Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall signals growing frustration with Ontario, Quebec

Canada’s longest serving premier isn’t happy. Not one bit. And Brad Wall is letting some of his colleagues know it before he arrives in St. John’s for the annual meeting of the country’s provincial and territorial leaders.

Wall told reporters in his home province of Saskatchewan that Ontario and Quebec should get out of the way of proposals to build or convert pipelines to carry oil from west to east.

Saskatchewan still hopes to mine its own oilsands

And he said it’s high time Central Canada stops treating this country’s oil industry as some kind of environmental liability, rather than as an economic benefit that’s being shared, via transfer payments, with the entire country.

“We’ve been contributing mightily to equalization, and I just don’t think this kind of talk is welcome, frankly,” Wall said Wednesday.

But Wall wasn’t done. Far from it. On he went about the billions of dollars shared by wealthy, oil-producing provinces such as Saskatchewan, with the so-called have-not provinces such as, ahem, the aforementioned Ontario and Quebec.

“Maybe we should send equalization payments through a pipeline to get one approved in Central Canada.”

It’s the kind of internal conflict that rarely disrupts the carefully crafted united front premiers try to present at their annual meetings. Premiers normally prefer to cast the federal government as the villain.

Premier Wall, meet Premier Wynne

But this isn’t some, forgive the pun, off-the-wall broadside.

Saskatchewan is an oil-producing province, already struggling with the effects of sustained low prices. It’s also struggling with few options to move that oil.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has been pushing on the green agenda, which could bring her into conflict with the oil-producing provinces. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Ontario’s Kathleen Wynne wasn’t responding to questions Wednesday at a reception welcoming premiers to St. John’s. But she indicated she’ll have plenty to say today when premiers hold their first session in the Hotel Newfoundland, overlooking St. John’s historic harbour.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Bank of Canada interest rate decision: To cut or not to cut?

July 15, 2015

Bank of Canada interest rate decision: To cut or not to cut?

With interest rates at historic lows, could it possibly make sense to go even further?

It came as a shock to just about everyone when Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz announced the central bank would lower its benchmark lending rate in January to 0.75 per cent.

That’s because after more than four years with a historically low one per cent, Canadians had been hammered with repeated warnings to pay down debt because lending rates were bound to go up — at some point.

Then a cratering oil price changed the narrative. When the bank cut rates in January, it was six months into an oil drop that saw crude go from $95 a barrel this time last year to under $50. That was devastating for the oil patch — but also for the rest of Canada’s economy.

“This decision is in response to the recent sharp drop in oil prices, which will be negative for growth and underlying inflation in Canada,” the bank said in explaining its bombshell rate cut.

Eagle eye on inflation

Although the bank keeps an eye on all sorts of economic data, the most important one from a monetary policy perspective is inflation — the upward creep of prices over time. The bank has a mandate of inflation targeting because according to many economists, if you can keep inflation in a narrow band between one and three per cent, everything else in the economy — from jobs, to GDP and the like — tends to take care of itself.

Lower lending rates make borrowing easier, which stimulates spending and investing, which nudges up inflation. Raising rates does the opposite. At least, so goes the theory.

When the bank cut rates in January, it raised the possibility of another one down the line. With Canada’s inflation rate currently at 0.9 per cent, there would seem to be ample wiggle room to cut again.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Calgary thunderstorm causes power outages, flooding in Chestermere

July 12, 2015

Calgary thunderstorm causes power outages, flooding in Chestermere

Lightning advisory that grounded all flights at Calgary airport now lifted

People in Calgary woke up with a bang early Sunday morning as a line of thunderstorms hovered over the city, bringing lightning, power outages and overland flooding in communities to the east.

As the storms moved eastward, severe thunderstorm warnings issued by Environment Canada remained in effect for Red Deer, Ponoka, Innisfail and Stettler by 3 p.m. MT. An earlier storm warning for Calgary was cancelled at 9:40 a.m. MT.

“Meteorologists are tracking a dangerous thunderstorm capable of producing up to penny size hail and flooding rain,” the agency said on its website.

Thunderstrom watches — the agency’s less urgent category of alert — were still in effect for much of the southeastern part of the province by late afternoon.

Have images of the storm? Send photos or video towebcalgary@cbc.ca

When the storm hit early Sunday morning it caused flash-flooding in parts of northeast Calgary as well as Langdon and Chestermere east of the city.

The Alberta emergency public alert system tweeted a warning about overland flooding in Chestermere.

“While short, this was an intensely severe storm that brought an amount of water that overwhelmed our systems” Steve Bagley, Chetermere’s director of emergency management. said in a release.

“We are working hard to assist residents and restore services as quickly as possible.”

Officials said power had been restored to most parts of the city by 1:30 p.m. MT and that Chestermere Lake water levels were under control.

Langdon resident Andrew Kucy said it didn’t take long for his basement to flood.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Canada’s technical recession ‘contained,’ says former PBO Kevin Page

July 11, 2015

Canada’s technical recession ‘contained,’ says former PBO Kevin Page

Ex-parliamentary budget officer says there is ‘still lots of growth in the service sector’

Although Canada is in a likely technical recession — defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth — it’s a recession that is contained, says former budget watchdog Kevin Page.

“In the current context, if you look at the growth numbers, the recession is effectively in the goods sector, it’s in the oil industry, it’s weak growth in manufacturing, weak growth in construction,” said Page in an interview on CBC Radio’s The House.

“It’s quite contained. There’s still lots of growth in the service sector.”

But Page, who served as Canada’s first parliamentary budget officer from 2008-2013, cautioned against reading too much optimism into the numbers.

The Canadian economy lost 6,400 jobs in June as gains in full-time work were offset by losses of part-time jobs, according to Statistics Canada.

The jobless rate stayed steady at 6.8 per cent, the same level it has been at since February. It was a better showing than what a consensus of economists were expecting, which was a loss of about 10,000 positions, but Page said the pattern remains one of shrinking growth.

“For the second quarter we had net job creation of more than 30,000, but if you look at the trend in June we actually declined,” he said.

“So if you look at the job picture, it’s gotten progressively weaker through the summer. I think that would be a concern for the government and a concern for the overall strength of our economy.”

“The economy’s weak, you can’t deny that. It will be pretty hard for Minister [of Finance Joe] Oliver to keep that line that we’re not in a technical recession,” Page added.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Canadian households are racking up more debt, poll suggests

July 10, 2015

Canadian households are racking up more debt, poll suggests

Average Canadian household owes $92,699, BMO poll suggests

A new poll suggests Canadian households are piling on more debt and plan to borrow more in the short term, even though a slight rise in interest rates would “stress” most of them out.

In BMO’s Annual Debt Report, the average household debt of those surveyed is $92,699, more than $4,000 higher than the four-year average dating back to 2012. And servicing that debt, which includes mortgages, lines of credit and credit card debt, is costing $1,165 a month.

Nearly half (46 per cent) feel some stress about those figures, but they’re still not as stressed as those surveyed in the past two previous years, suggesting many don’t anticipate a rise in interest rates.

Two-thirds admit, though, they would feel stressed if interest rates rose by two percentage points.

“The sizeable number of indebted households that would feel very strained by a relatively moderate increase in interest rates is concerning,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist of BMO Capital Markets. “This is a worrisome side effect of a prolonged period of low interest rates and needs to be closely monitored, especially if rates continue to fall.”

Canadians carrying debt will be watching the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate announcement July 15. Economists remain split over whether the Bank will hold or cut rates. A rate hike appears off the table — for now.

Statistics Canada says the debt-to-income ratio of Canadian households stands at 163.3 per cent. That means for every dollar Canadians earn, they owe $1.63 in debt, which is just barely lower than the record level measured last year.

BMO’s new poll finds many Canadians — 46 per cent in this case — are optimistic they can still have all of their debt paid off in less than five years.

The survey was conducted by Pollara and is based on interviews with an online sample of 1,001 Canadians conducted between June 19 and June 22.

Shadow mortgage lending on the rise as house prices soar

July 9, 2015

Shadow mortgage lending on the rise as house prices soar

Shadow lending represents about 4 to 5 per cent of Canada’s mortgage market

Canada’s housing boom is increasingly driving homebuyers to seek mortgages from private lenders, who demand rates that can be more than five times higher than those charged by the nation’s banks.

Canadian house prices have risen 36 per cent since June 2009, according to the Teranet-National Bank house price index. At the same time, Canadian banks have become more conservative and regulators are making it harder to lend, giving rise to an alternative market, including Canadians who refinance their own homes at low rates and then use the money to become mortgage lenders themselves.

Some analysts say a housing investment is increasingly risky because the pace of price increases has vastly outstripped wage growth, all amid a time of historically low interest rates and record debt levels. If and when interest rates rise, the concern is that consumers would have little ability to increase their payments, because they have so much debt.

“The risk arises if the unintended consequence of regulation is to push out the risk profile of the less regulated sector, and to encourage it to grow quickly at the same time,” said Finn Poschmann, vice-president of policy analysis at the C.D. Howe Institute.

“In dollar terms it is not a huge part of the economy (but) my concern is that we pay attention, because small problems sometimes get unexpectedly large, and quickly so.”

Mortgage broker Lou Perrotta said that in terms of volume, 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the mortgages he puts together are now privately financed, typically because borrowers are declined for a bank loan for reasons like a low credit rating or unsteady income. That represents about $4 million to $5 million of the $20 million of mortgage business he does annually, he said.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Metro Vancouver air quality comparable to Beijing

July 7, 2015

Metro Vancouver air quality comparable to Beijing

Health authorities advise caution due to smoke from hundreds of wildfires across B.C.

Smoke from wildfires in the Interior of British Columbia blankets the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver. Health officials in the province have issued air quality warnings as a result of the fires.

Smoke from wildfires in the Interior of British Columbia blankets the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver. Health officials in the province have issued air quality warnings as a result of the fires. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Health authorities say Metro Vancouver’s air quality has dipped to levels close to those found in major Chinese polluted cities such as Beijing, and are warning residents to stay indoors, due in part to the rampant wildfires in B.C.

“I would say that the air quality that we’ve experienced recently [in B.C.] and are experiencing now is unfortunately something that residents in a lot of cities in China experience on quite a regular basis, which I think is quite concerning because these are certainly levels that pose a risk for human health and well-being,” said Fraser Health medical health officer Dr. Lisa Mu.

The string of forest fires currently burning in the province forced Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories on Monday for several areas, including Metro Vancouver.

The sharp decrease in air quality is mostly due to small particles from the fires, which can irritate people’s lungs.

The highest concentration of particulate matter in the air has been found in North Burnaby, where levels are not far behind those in Beijing. The sprawling Chinese city is notorious for its poor air quality. It’s often engulfed in smog for days on end as China contends with rampant air pollution stemming from its decades of economic growth.

Particulate matter numbers:

Beijing: 144 µg/m3
Burnaby north: 112 µg/m3
Vancouver: 60.1 µg/m3
Abbotsford: 58 µg/m3
Paris: 56 µg/m3

Note: These figures are accurate for 7 p.m. PT on Monday. Source: Air Quality B.C.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Greece’s PM Tsipras says country prepared to accept most bailout demands

July 1, 2015

Greece’s PM Tsipras says country prepared to accept most bailout demands

Greece became first country to miss IMF payment since Zimbabwe in 2001

Greece’s government has made new concessions in talks with its creditors, though some European officials said they were still not good enough and that a deal was nevertheless impossible before a Greek referendum on Sunday.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent a letter Tuesday night, just hours before the country’s bailout program was due to expire, saying his government was prepared to accept creditors’ proposals made last weekend, subject to certain amendments.

The creditors did not accept Greece’s new overture, leaving the country’s bailout program to expire. But eurozone finance ministers will meet again on Wednesday to discuss the terms again. Hopes that Tsipras was softening his position — after refusing for five months the spending cuts that creditors had demanded in exchange for loans — boosted markets on Wednesday.

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was clear that no deal was imminent, at least not before Greece holds a popular vote on the creditors’ proposals on Sunday.

“Before a referendum, there is indeed no basis (for an agreement),” Schaeuble said.

In Athens, crowds of anxious elderly Greeks thronged banks for hours from before dawn Wednesday, struggling to be allowed to withdraw their maximum of 120 euros ($167 Cdn) for the week after the government reopened some banks to help pensioners who don’t have bank cards.

Pensioners try to get a number to enter a bank in Athens on Wednesday. About 1,000 bank branches around the country were ordered by the government to reopen Wednesday to help desperate pensioners without ATM cards cash up to 120 euros from their retirement checks. (Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why B.C. may be in for a long, hot summer

June 26, 2015

Why B.C. may be in for a long, hot summer

A dry spring, a warmer than usual Pacific Ocean, and an El Niño means the hot weather could be here to stay

Whenever temperatures approach 30 C in Metro Vancouver, it’s a talker.

While the thermostat does get close once or twice each summer, this particular heat wave has a lot of added factors. First of all, it’s early, as seasonal highs for Vancouver right now are just 20 C.

And the forecast temperatures will likely end up 10 degrees above that this weekend — numbers more reminiscent of July or August.

This heat wave will also be intense. Temperatures will steadily climb right across southern B.C. over the next few days, peaking on Sunday at 30 degrees for the South Coast and approaching the 40s in the Interior.

Daily temperature records will fall, but so too will many all-time hottest June day records. It looks like we will, at least, get close for places like Vancouver (30.6 C), Kelowna (38 C) and Kamloops (39.1 C).

Finally, this heat is just the latest ‘extreme’ in what has been an incredibly warm and dry year overall. Most of B.C. is coming out of a winter of record low snow packs.

Long range forecast calls for hot summer

This past May was the driest on record for most of the province. So far, just a fraction of expected June rain has fallen. And in general, temperatures have been above seasonal for weeks on end.

This provides that much more of an impact for the hot weather forecast when it comes to fire danger and drought concerns. After an explosive start to the fire season, and reservoirs dropping at an alarming speed, a dry forecast ramps up the danger and a hot one means evaporation of any moisture happens at a faster rate.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

2-income families nearly doubled from 1976 to 2014

June 25, 2015

2-income families nearly doubled from 1976 to 2014

As Canadian families change, number of stay-at-home parents plunges, but more of them are dads

Families with both parents working are a substantial majority in Canada, with 69 per cent of couples with a child under 16 years of age having two incomes, according to Statistics Canada.

That contrasts sharply with 36 per cent of couples with a child under 16 having two working parents in 1976 and represents a 92 per cent increase.

In Quebec, the proportion of families with a stay-at-home parent declined faster than anywhere in the country, from 59 per cent of families in 1976 to 13 per cent in 2014.

The Statistics Canada study based on data from the Labour Force Survey shows the changes undergone by Canadian families in the past 38 years.

The survey gathered data on 2.8 million families in both 2014 and 1976, as the number of Canadian families with children remained constant.

Living on 1 income

The influx of women into the workforce in the 1970s and 1980s is credited with boosting the prosperity of middle-class households.

However, it is also true that few Canadian families can afford to live on one income as many did in 1976.

That makes the cost of daycare a perennial issue for many families and means legislation such as the income-splitting tax break pushed through earlier this year may be tailored for the kind of Canadian family that is no longer in the majority.

The share of couple families with children who had only a single earner declined from 59 per cent in 1976 to 27 per cent in 2014. That means about 736,000 couples across Canada, according to Statistics Canada.

But in 2014, it was far more likely that a stay-at-home parent was the father than in 1976. About 11 per cent of families with a stay-at-home parent said it was dad who was home with kids, compared to two per cent in 1976.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

TransCanada cuts 185 jobs as it restructures

June 24, 2015

TransCanada cuts 185 jobs as it restructures

Pipeline company eliminates jobs to remain competitive and cut costs

Keystone XL proponent TransCanada Corp. has laid off 185 people in its major projects department, most of them in Calgary.

The jobs that were cut on Tuesday included about 100 full-time employees while the rest were contract workers.

As a pipeline operator, TransCanada has remained profitable through the oil downturn. In the first quarter, it earned $387 compared to $412 million for the same period in 2014. However, the industry it serves with its pipelines had a collective loss of more than $600 million over the same period.

In an e-mail, TransCanada’s spokesman, Mark Cooper said the company cut the positions as part of a restructuring to control costs and remain competitive.

Cooper said TransCanada needs to provide low-cost services as its customers have been deeply affected by the current low-price environment that has left companies in the oilpatch struggling.

TransCanada is working to move forward on a number of projects, including the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Energy East pipeline.

Both projects have faced delays and regulatory hurdles. The company has about 6,000 employees across North America.

Gas prices ‘way beyond’ where oil rebound should have them: BMO

June 22, 2015

Gas prices ‘way beyond’ where oil rebound should have them: BMO

It’s not just you: Gas prices are much higher than they should be, energy experts say

Gas prices are up by more than a third since the start of the year, a figure much higher than one would expect based on the slight rebound in oil prices, Bank of Montreal’s chief economist says.

Doug Porter noted Thursday that while everything connected to crude oil has looked execrable since the slowdown that started last fall, Canadian gas prices have been especially loopy because of the impact of the Canadian dollar.

A lot of the gasoline used in Canada is refined and processed in the U.S., where refineries price the base commodity in U.S. dollars. That makes Canadian pump prices doubly sensitive because they are heavily impacted by the value of the Canadian dollar.

Gas price jump ‘doesn’t make sense’ experts say

If you balance out the impact of currency fluctuations, “converting oil prices into Canadian-dollar suggests that the jump in gasoline has gone way beyond the move in crude,” Porter wrote. “So what’s up?”

It’s a question many Canadians have been asking themselves, with the average price of a litre of gasoline at $1.20 across the country. Porter noted there are indeed plenty of valid reasons for gas prices to be up a bit. In addition to the small rebound in crude oil, there are seasonal factors at play.

“In each of the past two years, the annual highs for gasoline prices were hit in the fourth week of June,” Porter said. We are right on track for that to happen again this year.

Demand is up

And demand for gasoline is legitimately higher too. Phil Flynn, the senior market analyst at energy research firm Price Futures Group in Chicago, said cheap oil prices last fall compelled most Americans to do what they normally do when that happens — drive more. “When oil prices crashed it stirred demand,” he said in an interview. “It’s the oldest story in the market.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Toxic algae blooms: What you should know about the mysterious phenomena

June 19, 2015

Toxic algae blooms: What you should know about the mysterious phenomena

Algae can produce some of the most harmful natural toxins known to science

In August 1961, a bizarre scene unfolded in the skies above the coastal town of Capitola, Calif., on the northern end of Monterey Bay.

Residents watched in terror as seabirds dive-bombed into the ground at kamikaze speed and violently vomited fish. The carcasses of hundreds of birds were strewn in the streets.

The strange incident partly inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror flick The Birds, but exactly what happened remained a mystery for five decades.

In 2011, a research group revealed that the birds were victims of poisoning by domoic acid, a potent toxin produced by algae that targets the nervous system, inducing severe seizures and killing wildlife.

A bloom thought to be the largest ever observed on the West Coast of North America is currently menacing Monterey Bay with unprecedented levels of domoic acid. Wild and farmed shellfish operations from California to B.C. have been forced to stop harvesting until the bloom clears.

While toxic algae are common in waters across the planet, there is mounting evidence that the frequency and severity of these events are on the rise and that global climate change may exacerbate the problem.

Here’s some important background on toxic algal blooms and how they could affect you.

What are toxic algal blooms?

The massive growth of algae on the West Coast falls under a category of natural phenomena that scientists call harmful algal blooms, or HABs. They are often called red tides because they sometimes render the water a rusty-crimson colour. This is a misnomer, however, as algal blooms can be many colours and aren’t necessarily connected to tides.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Fed chair Yellen tells Canadian homeowners to watch out: Don Pittis

June 18, 2015

Fed chair Yellen tells Canadian homeowners to watch out: Don Pittis

Your mortgage rates are going up, and U.S. Fed chair is pretty specific on how much

The financial analysts think they have it figured out. After listening to U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s speech and her wily answers to questions from reporters, the consensus seems to be that a rate rise is coming later this year — the first one probably in September.

While that date is of crucial interest to market wheeler-dealers, for Canadian mortgage-holders Yellen had a far more important message. It is especially important in a week when Manulife warned that for many home owners, a rate hike could be trouble.

While a large majority of Yellen’s advisory committee agrees that the economy will require a rate rise before the end of the year, Yellen herself said the exact moment of such a rise really doesn’t matter.

“The importance of the timing of the first decision to raise rates is something that should not be overblown, whether it is September or December or March,” said Yellen in response to a question. “What matters is the entire path of rates.”

Best guesses

Of course neither Yellen nor the rest of the Federal Open Markets Committee members actually know for sure where the economy is headed. All they can do is make their best guesses, based on examining all the latest economic indicators, then sort of sum up to come to a collective conclusion.

As Yellen said yesterday, the committee’s best guess is that the U.S. economy has begun expanding moderately after a sickly first three months of the year. Jobless figures show that the supply of surplus labour is gradually being used up.

Consumer spending is still pretty soft, they conclude, but the housing market has perked up. On the downside, business investment in plant and equipment remains soft. So do exports.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Janet Yellen’s clout today is especially hefty: Don Pittis

June 17, 2015

Janet Yellen’s clout today is especially hefty: Don Pittis

The sense that change is afoot lends power to the U.S. central banker’s words

If you live in a cave and survive on nuts, berries and the odd roasted squirrel, what U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen says today won’t make much difference to your life. At least not right away.

But for the rest of us, from Saskatoon to Shahjahanpur, what she says will matter. The powerful Yellen may talk softly, but she carries an enormous stick.

Of course the U.S. central bank always has a certain amount of clout. But there are reasons that Yellen’s pronouncements today on interest rates may be more newsworthy than usual.

The first thing is the way Yellen’s message will be presented. Even when the Fed issues a written statement, market analysts go over the wording with a fine-toothed comb, interpreting subtle changes in wording.

Like the printed statement, Yellen’s speech will also be carefully penned, but emphasis can lend special meaning to a prepared text.

Most revealing of all is the question and answer period, when Yellen stands up and, in the glare of camera lights, faces the slavering wolves of the financial press who will try to tempt her into tiny indiscretions.

Adding to the import of today’s speech and news conference is the timing. It may be an illusion, but it feels as if the world is currently on the knife edge of change, what mathematicians call an inflection point, where things, once trending one way, suddenly begin trending another.

In the fullness of time we may find out we were wrong, but today part of Yellen’s impact will be the sense that change is afoot.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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