LILLEY: Mark Carney needs to act big to turn around rising unemployment
If the PM is serious about thinking big and acting bigger, he should adopt Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s ideas
Article content
Canada lost 51,000 full-time jobs last month according to Statistics Canada.
The quick and easy answer is to blame Donald Trump and the tariffs; the deeper answer is much more worrying.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
LILLEY: Mark Carney needs to act big to turn around rising unemployment Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
It’s a sign that Mark Carney needs to start moving faster to unleash the Canadian economy, because right now it is sputtering.
A year ago, Canada’s unemployment rate was at 5.5%, by October of last year before Trump was re-elected it had risen to 6.5%, and it now sits at 6.9%. The only reason it isn’t higher is that many people have given up looking for work and are no longer counted as unemployed.
We have added more than 1.2 million people to the labour force over the last year, primarily through immigration and work permits for foreign students. In that same time, the labour participation rate fell while the number of people who are registered as unemployed grew to 1.56 million – 379,000 higher than a year ago.
Unemployment has grown across all demographic groups but has particularly hit young workers under 25.
Economic forecasts from firms like Oxford predict the national unemployment rate could rise as high as 7.6% this year while economic growth flatlines or contracts.
Is Canada in a recession?
While right now the answer is technically no, we aren’t growing. Economic forecasts are pointing to a contraction in the second and third quarters – a mild contraction but a contraction nonetheless.
Compare that to the American economy which just posted 3% annualized growth in the second quarter and is projected to grow at 2.5% in the third quarter. Their unemployment rate currently sits at 4.2% – and while our 6.9% unemployment rate is measured differently, it would come in at 5.8% if measured using the same parameters as the Americans.
Clearly our economy needs help.
What has Carney been doing so far? Simply making announcements, holding meetings, but there is nothing concrete.
This isn’t what he promised.
“We will need to think big and act bigger. We will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven’t seen in generations,” Carney said on election night echoing comments he made during the campaign.
He hasn’t been able to secure a trade and tariff deal with Trump and instead tariffs have increased. Canada is currently the only G7 country not covered by some kind of deal and now Carney can’t even get Trump to return his calls.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
tap here to see other videos from our team.
His supporters might say he hasn’t been in office long enough, but it was Carney who set July 21 and then Aug. 1 deadlines. It was Carney who said he knew Trump, knew how to handle him and knew how to negotiate.
Compare that record to Stephen Harper who had a deal on softwood lumber within 90 days of being elected in 2006. Carney hit 100 days since the election this past Tuesday, he became Prime Minister almost five months ago.
Instead of thinking big and acting bigger, Carney is proposing little and moving slowly in terms of unleashing our economy.
Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said this week that his party will introduce the Canadian Sovereignty Act when Parliament resumes in September and he’s encouraging the Liberals to steal his ideas. The proposal from the Conservatives includes the kind of big and bold ideas that Carney should be talking about, so let’s hope the Liberals do take these policies.
The Conservatives are calling for the government to scrap the industrial carbon tax, which foreign firms selling into Canada don’t have to pay. They also want the government to repeal Bill C-69, which blocks resource development, drop the oil and gas cap, and end the West coast tanker ban, among other ideas.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
tap here to see other videos from our team.
These measures, along with ending the Trudeau-era EV mandate for new vehicles would put Canada’s economy on a solid footing, set it up on a path for success.
Just recently, Enbridge and TC Energy, two of Canada’s largest energy firms, said most of their capital investment over the next year would be headed stateside. Tariffs were part of the decision, but uncertainty tied to regulations, like the ones Poilievre is calling to be repealed, are the other part.
Same with Bell’s decision to invest $5 billion in the United States due to government policy in Canada.
Canada’s economy has incredible potential but for too long we’ve been getting in our own way with needless, ideologically driven regulation. If Carney is serious about thinking big and acting bigger, he should adopt Poilievre’s ideas.
That would see investment soar, Canada’s economy grow and unemployment fall.
If he choses to continue to play small ball, none of those things will happen and unemployment will continue to creep up.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.