Mark Carney is looking for a new Parliamentary Budget Officer who has more “tact and discretion” because Mark Carney is tired of Jason Jacques telling the truth.
But you don’t have to be the Parliamentary Budget Officer to spot discrepancies in Liberal math.
The job numbers for October were made to look good at a glance, but if you read past the first paragraph you will see that the increase in jobs are all temporary part time jobs and the Canada lost 18,500 full time jobs.
The October increase was driven entirely by part-time work (+85,000), while full-time positions actually fell (-18,500). Most of the gains were in Ontario, which added 55,000 jobs, and in industries including retail and wholesale trade, transportation, and information and recreation. BMO chief economist Douglas Porter notes that this provincial strength might have a temporary cause, suggesting Ontario’s gains—particularly in information, culture & recreation and accommodation & food—may have received a bump from the Blue Jays’ playoff run. Construction employment fell by 15,000.
If you look even further you will question the increase in transportation jobs. I’ve been in transportation for 34 years, the market has never been this slow for this long. EVER.
So how do you get an increase of 30,000 jobs in transportation when the industry is collapsing with bankruptcies everywhere? There are so many bankruptcies that the auctions are overrun with equipment for sale.
There were more people working in wholesale and retail trade (+41,000; +1.4%), transportation and warehousing (+30,000; +2.8%), information, culture, and recreation (+25,000; +3.0%), and utilities (+7,600; +4.6%). On the other hand, employment declined in construction (-15,000; -0.9%).
This fall things have slowed down even more due to the tariffs in the US and a lack of economic activity in Canada, so how did transportation and warehousing gain 30,000 jobs when trucking companies are laying off staff?
It can be argued that some of my number are from months ago, but there are no economic indicators showing any postive news that would cause a reversal of the trend.
It’s almost like the Liberals are spreading misinformation…