By David MacDonald T here’ll be no singing ‘Blame Canada’ this year. Oil prices are up, the energy sector is mustering its troops, and the Canadian dollar is, once again, looking up at its big brother: George Washington.
This is all according to a survey of corporate managers con- ducted by the Bank of Canada.
That’s right; Canada’s central bank is telling you that Canadian business sentiment is up and about. But don’t ask it to do too much quite yet – they’re describing it as a ‘modest recovery.’ They’re being as qualitative as possible, too, as their message is all about measures of investment and improving prospects of employment and sales. If it’s measurements you want, here they are: 1.5 percent GDP expansion since October; Hiring intentions up 38 percent; back-to- back positive readings from the central bank’s Business Outlook Survey Indicator. If it’s prospects you’re after, here those are: U.S. exports have never stopped believin’, even with an administra- tion that doesn’t seem like it’s taking a Canadian road trip anytime soon (and definitely not for the delicious milk); The upcoming nationwide legalization of marijuana, which is projected to exceed $5 billion CDN (or $9 billion, depends on who you ask) in annual profits in country with a popula- tion less than that of the state of California. So, simply put: The two-year slump is over. More or less. The pressure on capacity still reflects the uncertainty of an administration that seems to be sifting through NAFTA like it’s a breaking headline. The reality is that ‘Buy American, Hire American’ is lip service and that’s a good thing for Americans who rely on the two way trade relationship that totalled $575 billion USD in 2015.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • APRIL 2017
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