Economic Newsletter – Week of November 30th 2020

Written By: Amit Shteyer & Hannah Lobbezoo

Canada’s Economy at a Glance

Economics Society News, Events, and Articles 

News: 

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News and Noteworthy

Trudeau touts ‘historic’ $100B stimulus plan, won’t commit to boosting health transfers
With a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon Trudeau and Freeland are looking toward a post-pandemic economy, where they plan on injecting up to $100 billion into the Canadian economy. However, Trudeau is not ready to commit to further health transfers requested by provincial premiers. Read More.

Plenty of booby traps on a path to economic recovery littered with unknowns 
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is challenged to solve Canada’s economic problems while facing potential future pitfalls. The problem is that this recession is different than others Canada has suffered in the past and a lot of uncertainty is involved. Read more.

Canadian economy’s record expansion meets reality of a second wave 
Canada saw its biggest ever expansion in the third quarter of 2020. However, this momentum is quickly fading as the second wave hits. The surge in COVID-19 cases and lockdowns will make it difficult to achieve this massive growth again in the near future. Read more.

COVID-19 has sucked the oxygen out of the room on the climate economy 
This was supposed to be a year of climate action in Canada but attention to the topic has been diverted in 2020 to a narrow focus on the pandemic. As the topic takes centre stage for several months in a row, certain important environmental issues are being pushed down the list. Read more. 

Toronto home prices fall from record as condo market goes cold
Toronto’s housing pricing increased 13.3 percent year over year. Particularly, detached homes, outside the city have been doing well as city dwellers locate further from the downtown core. Condo sales have felt the effects of changed preference with a marginal 0.8% growth from prior year. However, the local real estate board is optimistic for the condo market on the other side of the pandemic. Read More

Governments have prevented ‘zombie’ companies from declaring bankruptcies – but a reckoning may come soon
Despite the largest economic recession in years, the number of low productivity firms going bankrupt has stayed the same, even lower than prior years. This is consistent across almost all advanced economies. However, the reason companies have been surviving is not because they are in good shape, but because the vulnerability of the economy is at an all time high. Read More

Recommended Read 

Crashed; how a decade of financial crises changed the world
By Adam Tooze

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