Bell Canada’s cancellation of a $32-million dollar contract to expand high-speed internet and cell service on Labrador’s north coast comes as the telecommunications giant has confirmed plans to expand southward in the United States.
After receiving millions in government subsidies for the Labrador North Wireless Broadband Project, Canada’s largest communications company says it’s no longer feasible to complete the expansion due to rising costs and competition.
It’s Probably Nothing
That Sinking Feeling
Elbows Up! Oh, wait….
Canada’s labour market showed strain from the U.S. trade war in April, with the unemployment rate rising unexpectedly to 6.9 per cent as manufacturing jobs declined, according to Statistics Canada data released on Friday. Overall employment was essentially flat, with 7,400 net jobs added for the month — a number held in positive territory due to temporary hiring for the federal election.
Elbows Down!
Former Liberal MP Dan McTeague offers his thoughts on the future of Canada under a Carney government. In a nutshell, it’s not good.
“I think the Conservatives have to be prepared for the Liberals going forward. [They] can always…deceive Canadians and can always get gullible types to go along with COVID in 2021 [and] bad orange man… south of the border in 2025. I’m sure they’ll probably find another boogeyman out there for the next election.”
Elbows Down
Ron Butler warned about this weeks ago, but somehow it was never an item for discussion during the recent joke of an election.
Unifor said in a statement released Friday morning that the Oshawa Assembly Plant will go from three shifts to two starting this fall, citing tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
A General Motors spokesperson confirmed to CityNews that the Oshawa plant will be returning to a two-shift operation “in light of forecasted demand and the evolving trade environment.”
Let Us Jog Your Memory
Has the problem of unpaid student loans been allowed to fester so long that people have actually forgotten how much money they owe? Apparently it has.
While many outside experts have acknowledged that the collections process needed to resume at some point, they’ve warned that recent upheaval within the Education Department and student lending program could end up creating new problems for borrowers, many of whom may not realize they still owe their debts after years of not having to pay them.
There are currently more than 5 million borrowers with loans in default, who will be immediately affected by the restart. Millions more Americans are expected to fall deeply past due on their student debts in the coming months, with a large bulge in the fall.
Conservatives Pounce!
“When Republicans screw up, that’s the story. When Democrats screw up, the Republicans’ reaction is the story.” – Jim Treacher
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pounced on a government report that he argues predicts a “terrifying” world in 2040 to warn voters of the dangers of giving the Liberals a fourth term — but the actual report is far more nuanced.
@joe_warmington– Here’s my question to @PierrePoilievre today — I was heckled and berated for asking it by other media. It offers insight to me why they perhaps were not offered a seat on the bus.
The Mother of All Bailouts
Peter St Onge- China is panicking over tariffs
Comedy Gold!
Considering the likelihood of this happening, Carney might as well promise to balance the budget in fifty years time. No matter what the proposed timeline, it’s not believable. “Didn’t go to plan” is every politician’s Get Out Of Jail Free card.
Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said if his Liberals won an April 28 election and all went to plan, it would be realistic to expect the budget to return to surplus in four or five years’ time.
You Will Eat Bugs, Live In A Pod, Own Nothing And You Will Like It
A federal report quietly released by the Privy Council predicts a dystopian Canada by 2040:
Class-based dating apps.
AI replacing your job.
Illegal hunting to feed your kids.
Gated cities for the rich.
Not satire. Their words.Jobs? Forget it.
Reality Bites
Ron Butler’s advice to Canada: focus on what you do well, and that’s primarily energy production. Ditch the green economy nonsense before it’s too late. Above all, stop taking the auto industry for granted. Production can move to the US more easily than most Canadians think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffUL9aFL84
The Road To Zero
In a fiat monetary system in which exponentially rising debt is a feature, not a bug, borrowers are always going to need relief in the form of lower interest rates. So much for “higher for longer”. Central banks are being a bit stubborn right now, but it won’t last.
That left the benchmark prime rate stuck at 4.95 per cent, more than a percentage point above its 20-year average of 3.87 per cent.
Since lower rates tend to inflate home prices, many bargain-hunting homebuyers were high-fiving the rate freeze. Most floating-rate borrowers and real estate stakeholders, however, were left groaning.
Turbo Bust?
With Canadian housing prices as high as they are, the last thing anyone needs is another round of “turbocharging”.
But then again, with the unemployment rate in Toronto sitting at 8.7%, it’s only matter of time until interest rates go back to zero so we can jump start an economy in which everyone just builds houses for everyone else.
The Bank of Canada needs to cut interest rates to get housing activity moving again or risk Canada’s economic growth, economists warn.
But two economists also think interest rates remain too high to turbocharge the sector, which is a major contributor to Canada’s economy and also highly sensitive to interest rates.
“Safe” Bets?
As Heresy Financial podcaster Joseph Brown explains, in order to understand the current stock market troubles you have to look beyond tariffs.
“…when markets start to crash, you don’t sell what you want, but what you can. And during this recent stock market crash hedge funds have been absolutely dumping stocks but it seems like it’s just not enough which is why they’ve been forced to get out of the basis trade and dumping their treasuries which has been driving yields much higher…”
Housing Bust
A housing market swamped by exponentially rising debt coupled with a period of sharply rising interest rates is bound to head south sooner or later. But not to worry, we can just tell ourselves that it’s all due to tariffs.
Home sales fell 4.8% in March from February, and together with declines in the previous three months were down 20% from their recent high, posted in November, CREA said on Tuesday.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, sales were down 9.3% on an annual basis and were the lowest for the month since 2009.
Circling The Drain
No big surprise here. Maybe some federal subsidies will fix it. Good luck with a hokey “buy Canadian” program as a solution to your problems.
The net loss attributable to shareholders totalled $55.9 million or 28 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with a loss of $9.8 million or five cents per share in the same period a year earlier.
Red Ink Spa Day
Another province opening the red ink sluice gates. Voters can sniff out a pandemic style spending spree thanks to the ongoing tariff spat. Any government that refused to deliver one, be they federal or provincial, would be trounced at the polls.
Newfoundland and Labrador has tabled a 2025-26 provincial budget that responds to uncertainty from the United States with record spending and record borrowing, while delaying its return to a balanced budget by another year.
The province anticipates a $372-million deficit this coming year to address affordability issues and tariff concerns — a figure that could rise further if the province utilizes an additional $200 million in contingency funds set aside to address Trump-related turmoil.
Self-Imposed Sanctions
If proof was ever needed that the Liberals could not care less about the oil patch, this is it.
…oilfield service companies have been hit hard by Ottawa’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products — including 25 per cent tariffs on imports of steel and sand used in hydraulic fracturing operations…
[Fracking operations] require operators to import millions of tonnes of high-silica frac sand, primarily from mines in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Drowning In Debt
Predictably, another pandemic style spending spree is already underway, this time premised on the idea that it is the role of the state to insulate everyone from losses incurred as a result of tax hikes in another nation. One thing that is clear in this election is that all levels of government, provincial and federal, will be going all-in on opening the spending floodgates. Any party that dared to argue otherwise would be pilloried by the electorate.
Ontario businesses will see select provincial taxes deferred for six months, which Premier Doug Ford says will give them about $9 billion worth of relief amid global economic turmoil in the face of U.S. tariffs.
Nothing To See Here
Ron Butler chats about a story that is getting completely buried in the current election: the real estate crash in the GTA and Vancouver. That would not be a good look for a government needing to pick up seats in those regions, but I’m sure the media water carriers will see to it that the story remains buried.
“…we’re at the point now where a building will not close…somebody will have finished 300 units and 60% of the people who bought the units pre-construction will say “I’m not going to close.” Yeah you can chase me but I’m not going to close because the media information is getting out there in a bigger and bigger way and once that happens nobody’s going to close…”