Liberal (Minority/Majority) Government 2025 - ???

[Brad Sallows]

I guess you believe in Fairy Dust and a Pot-o-Gold at the end of the rainbow? Trickle down economics is a fantasy created to support the wealthy.

I'm not writing about trickle down economics. I'm writing about the long-term evolution of national economies over decades. More economically powerful nations are advancing the living conditions of their residents faster than less powerful ones. In the vein of what I've written before, there was a time - within the lifetimes of people still alive - when it didn't matter much on which side of the US-Mexico border a person lived. Now it matters a great deal. It should be obvious that a similar gap can gradually emerge across the Canada-US border, particularly if Canadians devote so much effort to convincing themselves that our talent for dividing a pie is more important than their talent for growing it.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Sure. But the claim was about individual standards of living.

Yep. And my point is that it matters, just not in the way being advanced or opposed by some people here.

 

[HavokFour]

It appears Pierre is more or less on the same page.

Poilievre unveils 5-point steel plan, urges Ottawa to sue Stelco’s U.S. owner

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Ottawa to sue Stelco’s American owner as part of a five-point plan aimed at protecting Canada’s steel industry.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Halifax Tar]

Oof... And the youth continue to get gut punched...

https://twitter.com/x/status/2108569422814175691

 

[Czech_pivo]

Oof... And the youth continue to get gut punched...

https://twitter.com/x/status/2108569422814175691

Some, but clearly not all, can be attributed to kids heading back to school full time. But with that being said, not a good showing. Alberta though knocked the cover off the ball again. Signs that the oil patch is starting to get its mojo back? Would be a great thing for the entire country if this is true.

 

[Good2Golf]

Some, but clearly not all, can be attributed to kids heading back to school full time. But with that being said, not a good showing. Alberta though knocked the cover off the ball again. Signs that the oil patch is starting to get its mojo back? Would be a great thing for the entire country if this is true.

It does help when proportionately very little of the provincial output is tariffed compared to others. Best for AB to capitalize on the situation and not waste time crowing to others about how good they have it.

 

[armyvern]

Our own Canadian Amber Heard (as Princess Mera, not the bed messing version)

Meh; I was thinking our very own Guylaine Maxwell.

The TerraMar Project

 

[brihard]

Some, but clearly not all, can be attributed to kids heading back to school full time. But with that being said, not a good showing. Alberta though knocked the cover off the ball again. Signs that the oil patch is starting to get its mojo back? Would be a great thing for the entire country if this is true.

Unsurprising that Alberta would add jobs; current oil prices and the shift in political winds all point to an improving future in the oil patch, and there have been some months now for higher oil prices to pass through into other economic sectors.

 

[mariomike]

Readers may find this Statistics Canada report of interest,

Youth unemployment always higher

Canadian youth and full-time work: A slower transition

This month’s edition of Canadian Megatrends looks at labour force participation, unemployment, full-time and part-time work, and real wages for young workers in Canada from 1946 to 2015.

www150.statcan.gc.ca

The unemployment rate for workers aged 15 to 24 rose further during the 1970s as the relatively large cohorts of baby boomers entered the labour market.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Readers may find this Statistics Canada report of interest,

Canadian youth and full-time work: A slower transition

This month’s edition of Canadian Megatrends looks at labour force participation, unemployment, full-time and part-time work, and real wages for young workers in Canada from 1946 to 2015.

www150.statcan.gc.ca

More on that from RBC:

Job losses concentrated among young Canadians in September​

Canada’s labour market lost 68,000 jobs in September, driven by losses in public sectors (education and health care), piling onto the 42,000-job loss in the prior month. These losses reversed most of the job growth seen over the summer and leave the year-to-date employment count at -41,000.

The monthly employment counts are notoriously volatile, and there are reasons not to read too much into the softer reading too quickly. In September, 70%, or 48,000, of the decline in employment was among those aged 15 to 24, a group that typically sees seasonal headwinds around this time of year after the school year starts. The unemployment rate, as a more stable and reliable gauge of labour market conditions, ticked up slightly from 6.4% to 6.5% but remained 0.6 percentage points below a year ago.

Looking ahead, we continue to point to important leading indicators such as job openings from Indeed.com as indications that hiring demand has not retreated to a problematic extent since new U.S. tariffs (that cover a small scope of Canadian exports) were imposed. We expect progress made in Canada’s labour market earlier will be largely sustained, and the unemployment rate to broadly edge lower through the end of 2026.

Job losses concentrated among young Canadians in September

www.rbc.com

 

[armyvern]

Oof... And the youth continue to get gut punched...

https://twitter.com/x/status/2108569422814175691

I don't know if this qualifies as "youth employment", but an example from my family:

My cousin and his best friend were both employed by a chain retailer as stockers. His sister was employed by same retailer as a cashier. The two boys have been employed in there full time since they graduated 2 years ago. She had been a part-time cashier throughout her high school years, then permanent part-time since she graduated last year. Both still live at home because you can't rent and apartment and afford to eat in this province (NB) with minimum wage jobs (even with full-time minimum wage jobs).

Mid-July of this year all three of them received lay-off notices due to the downturn in the economy. The boys were shift-workers in their stocking role with the store having 4 shifts of 8 pers per shift. All 4 shifts went down to 6 pers. I have no idea how many of the cashiers like my cousin received pink slips. Three weeks after their employment ended "due to the downturn in the economy" ... the shifts were back up to 8 persons per shift - the 'new' employees being 2 TFWs per shift. WTAF?

If a couple employees from the same place start filing for pogey due to being laid-off, how TF is the same business getting away with bringing in TFWs a mere 3 weeks later? Is the government not noticing this crap or do they just not care?

Leaves me with a few questions:

1) Can the government not track this BS?
2) How can a business get away with having TFWs when there are people who are willing to work (at min wage) who are qualified to do the work and who were doing the work?
3) I don't think an application to hire TFWs can be done in a mere 3 week turn-around, so this tells me the business planned it out. ASmoke and mirrors.

The town in question has high unemployment and many looking for work, few getting it, but an abundance of TFWs in every place you enter.

My local Tims is a 5 minute drive away and I hit it 4 times a day. All summer the "Now Hiring" was posted and I watched the locals (adults and teens) and seasonal cottage kids dropping off their resumes at the counter ... and all summer and to this day, nothing but TFWs in there.

It's frustrating as hell. It's sucking the life out of this country. It and a whole lot else is sucking the life out of us. My rose coloured glasses have disappeared.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Some good news... the public sector is getting smaller:

‘Quite disappointing’: Economists react to weak September jobs report​

“That’s been a theme for all of this year. We now have total employment in Canada down 41,000 this year, but all of those are in the public sector.”

‘Quite disappointing’: Economists react to weak September jobs report

Canada’s sluggish economy has lost more than 100,000 jobs over the past two months amid a bitter trade war with the U.S., but economists say the hardest hit area has been the public sector, rather than industries directly impacted by tariffs.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

 

[Eaglelord17]

I don't know if this qualifies as "youth employment", but an example from my family:

My cousin and his best friend were both employed by a chain retailer as stockers. His sister was employed by same retailer as a cashier. The two boys have been employed in there full time since they graduated 2 years ago. She had been a part-time cashier throughout her high school years, then permanent part-time since she graduated last year. Both still live at home because you can't rent and apartment and afford to eat in this province (NB) with minimum wage jobs (even with full-time minimum wage jobs).

Mid-July of this year all three of them received lay-off notices due to the downturn in the economy. The boys were shift-workers in their stocking role with the store having 4 shifts of 8 pers per shift. All 4 shifts went down to 6 pers. I have no idea how many of the cashiers like my cousin received pink slips. Three weeks after their employment ended "due to the downturn in the economy" ... the shifts were back up to 8 persons per shift - the 'new' employees being 2 TFWs per shift. WTAF?

If a couple employees from the same place start filing for pogey due to being laid-off, how TF is the same business getting away with bringing in TFWs a mere 3 weeks later? Is the government not noticing this crap or do they just not care?

Leaves me with a few questions:

1) Can the government not track this BS?
2) How can a business get away with having TFWs when there are people who are willing to work (at min wage) who are qualified to do the work and who were doing the work?
3) I don't think an application to hire TFWs can be done in a mere 3 week turn-around, so this tells me the business planned it out. ASmoke and mirrors.

The town in question has high unemployment and many looking for work, few getting it, but an abundance of TFWs in every place you enter.

My local Tims is a 5 minute drive away and I hit it 4 times a day. All summer the "Now Hiring" was posted and I watched the locals (adults and teens) and seasonal cottage kids dropping off their resumes at the counter ... and all summer and to this day, nothing but TFWs in there.

It's frustrating as hell. It's sucking the life out of this country. It and a whole lot else is sucking the life out of us. My rose coloured glasses have disappeared.

I am of the opinion TFWs should be paid 25% more than whatever the local average for said job is (not determined by the employer). That would discourage there usage to where it is actually needed.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Meh; I was thinking our very own Guylaine Maxwell.

The TerraMar Project

Yikes.

At least Mrs Carney and Mrs Maxwell have never rubbed shoulders.

 

[YZT580]

I am of the opinion TFWs should be paid 25% more than whatever the local average for said job is (not determined by the employer). That would discourage there usage to where it is actually needed.

Interesting thought. There are areas though, such as many agricultural jobs, where TFW's are essential. With working time limited to 8 months of the year for most, the unemployment insurance costs to the tax payer if those positions were staffed with full-time employees would be astronomical: if you could get permanent residents to even take them. So there is room for some temps. Would setting a maximum permitted unemployment level at say 5.5% before temps. were permitted in any those exceptions work? But along with that would have to come workable housing solutions. As Armyvern mentioned, the kids can't leave home on minimum wage so it limits the positions they can accept. In my neck of the woods, the SHAW festival has built an Actor's village to provide housing for many of their people. Temporary housing in Niagara is more than their take home or so they say.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Interesting thought. There are areas though, such as many agricultural jobs, where TFW's are essential. With working time limited to 8 months of the year for most, the unemployment insurance costs to the tax payer if those positions were staffed with full-time employees would be astronomical: if you could get permanent residents to even take them. So there is room for some temps. Would setting a maximum permitted unemployment level at say 5.5% before temps. were permitted in any those exceptions work? But along with that would have to come workable housing solutions. As Armyvern mentioned, the kids can't leave home on minimum wage so it limits the positions they can accept. In my neck of the woods, the SHAW festival has built an Actor's village to provide housing for many of their people. Temporary housing in Niagara is more than their take home or so they say.

We are failing to allow the labour market to properly adjust.

Minimum wage doesn’t mean thats what that job is worth, rather the minimum that a company can offer to pay. It is a limit not what it will be.

TFWs are a big part of wage suppression, if wages were fair for that work in that area they would be able to find employees. The fact they can’t means they need to offer more. Thats where the 25% comes in.

Forcing them to pay more than what the regional average is means they either can’t actually find people locally, at which point they will pay. Or that they are trying to bring in cheaper workers than what is actually a fair wage at which point they will pay the going rate for a local employee as it makes more sense for the bottom line.

 

[suffolkowner]

Interesting thought. There are areas though, such as many agricultural jobs, where TFW's are essential. With working time limited to 8 months of the year for most, the unemployment insurance costs to the tax payer if those positions were staffed with full-time employees would be astronomical: if you could get permanent residents to even take them. So there is room for some temps. Would setting a maximum permitted unemployment level at say 5.5% before temps. were permitted in any those exceptions work? But along with that would have to come workable housing solutions. As Armyvern mentioned, the kids can't leave home on minimum wage so it limits the positions they can accept. In my neck of the woods, the SHAW festival has built an Actor's village to provide housing for many of their people. Temporary housing in Niagara is more than their take home or so they say.

the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program is a sub type of the TFW system.
I think most people might be referring to the Low Wage Stream abuses vs
the High Wage Stream
Foreign Academic
Global Talent
etc

Hire a temporary foreign worker with a Labour Market Impact Assessment - Canada.ca

Learn about the requirements for hiring foreign workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and what you need to apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment

www.canada.ca

 

[Jarnhamar]

Apparently Joly's Stern letter didn't scare anyone.

Stelco says it is proceeding with Ontario layoffs after Ottawa issues ultimatum​

https://archive.is/F3LcV

 

[mariomike]

My local Tims is a 5 minute drive away and I hit it 4 times a day. All summer the "Now Hiring" was posted and I watched the locals (adults and teens) and seasonal cottage kids dropping off their resumes at the counter ... and all summer and to this day, nothing but TFWs in there.

Some folks have signed a Pledge.

I pledge to boycott Tim Hortons — no coffee, no breakfast — until Tim Hortons commits to hiring Canadians and investing in our next generation.

 

[ArmyRick]

Apparently Joly's Stern letter didn't scare anyone.

Stelco says it is proceeding with Ontario layoffs after Ottawa issues ultimatum​

https://archive.is/F3LcV

surprise surprise.