Republicans turn to the socialism playbook on Biden's infrastructure bill, labeling anything other than roads and bridges as 'Soviet'

© Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images House Republicans including Reps. Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Matt Gaetz address reporters during a news conference. Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images  

GYM JORDAN POSING ALL HE NEEDS IS HIS SUPERHERO CAPE

While the parties disagree on infrastructure, the GOP is making false statements and calling the other side "socialist."

GOP leadership insists less than 6% of Biden's plan goes to roads and bridges, ignoring EV investments.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise on Wednesday dismissed the bill as "Soviet-style infrastructure."

SCALISE SUFFERS DEMENTIA FROM LEAD POISONING

Amid arguments over the definition of infrastructure, Republicans are making false statements about President Joe Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure bill and labeling the Democratic effort as "socialist."

The GOP's longstanding strategy of attaching the socialism label to any Democratic policy proposal is not new. It's been the go-to move for the party ever since the rise of the Tea Party in the 2010 midterms, and became integral to former President Donald Trump's losing campaign in 2020.

However, many of the recent socialism critiques of the Biden plan are misleading, particularly in how Republicans have been quibbling over what constitutes infrastructure.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana during a Wednesday news conference compared the American Jobs Plan to the Soviet Union.

"Frankly, when you look at the socialist agenda being pushed Speaker Pelosi and President Biden, people are turning away from it," Scalise said. "They're talking about an infrastructure bill. It's Soviet-style infrastructure, what they're talking about.

"Over 90% of the bill they're proposing has nothing to do with roads and bridges," he continued. "People would expect, if you're gonna have a $2 trillion bill, that it would be all about roads and bridges. Theirs is not. It's a lot of Green New Deal, expanding the role of the federal government."

Scalise's office did not respond to Insider's request for comment about what he meant by invoking the USSR, which fell in 1991.

A recent Morning Consult/Politico poll shows most Republican voters actually like several parts of the Biden infrastructure plan, including parts that are not traditionally defined as strictly infrastructure, such as the expanded child tax credit and increased low-income housing.

But both Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, the Senate and House minority leaders, respectively, have criticized the plan for earmarking less than 6% of its spending to roads and bridges.

Scalise too, with his "over 90%" comment, omitted the $174 billion dedicated to expanding the availability of electric vehicles, which use roads and bridges. Much of the spending in the bill is also left to the discretion of states and local authorities, which does not constitute "expanding the role of the federal government" to the extent Scalise indicated.

McCarthy - who was not in attendance at Wednesday's House GOP leadership press conference - recently dismissed the bill as a "kitchen sink of wasteful progressive demands" while ignoring major items with bipartisan support, such as subsidizing broadband internet access for rural communities.

Outside of the beltway, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was mocked online for her comments on Fox News, where she wondered aloud why items like "housing and pipes and different initiatives" were included in the bill despite falling well within a general definition of infrastructure.

These claims have taken over the GOP messaging in place of a more viable negotiating posture, which began to emerge on Wednesday when Republican Sen. Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia floated the idea of cutting the bill by more than half to settle around a "sweet spot" figure of $600 billion to $800 billion.

To counter the GOP talking points, the White House released its "infrastructure report cards" on Tuesday to highlight and quantify areas of disrepair state by state.

The home states of Scalise, McCarthy, and Noem received a D-plus and two C-minuses, respectively.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

CANADA
Courier giant DHL padded own pockets with 'hidden fees,' class action alleges

Erica Johnson 

CBC

4/15/2021

© Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters A DHL worker delivers packages in Bonn, Germany, in December 2020. A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in a B.C. court alleges the courier giant requires some customers to pay extra fees by making 'false, misleading and…

A Vancouver law firm is going to court against DHL, alleging the courier giant profited by misrepresenting some of the fees it charges customers.

According to a proposed class action filed in B.C. Supreme Court last week, the North American operations for DHL's express courier delivery service have been requiring customers to pay extra fees to receive their parcels by making claims that are "false, misleading and deceptive."

Court documents claim that DHL leads customers to believe that fees they must pay once a parcel arrives from out of the country are government import and tax fees — when a large portion of them are actually going to DHL as a "processing fee."

"I don't think anybody has any difficulty paying for taxes and duty that's properly owing and payable," said the Vancouver lawyer behind the class action, Scott Stanley.

"It's when there's additional fees that aren't clear where people get their backs up."

The lead plaintiff in the case is Gayle Vallance — a retired school teacher from Fernie, B.C. Court documents say Vallance ordered two books on fabric weaving from the U.K. in February — paying DHL $98 for shipping.

Nine days later, she was advised by DHL that her shipment had arrived in Canada, but she had to pay $33.16 in "duties and taxes" before it would be delivered.

"At all material times prior to payment, DHL represented to the Plaintiff that the fee being charged on her shipment was for duties and taxes," say court documents.

The claim says Vallance only learned "after numerous inquiries to DHL" that $17 of that fee went to the courier company as a processing fee.
Hidden fees?

At issue in the proposed class action is how transparent the company is about the fees it charges customers.

Court documents say that DHL usually sends an email to customers with the subject line "IMPORT DUTY/TAX PAYMENT," advising them to pay up or risk losing their parcel.

The case says people paid the fees, believing them to be for duties and taxes. "In reality," says the claim, the fees charged "included a DHL processing or brokerage fee."

"This was a hidden fee."

Stanley says customers are "already paying DHL to deliver these packages — they're not doing this for free. And this seems to be an extra charge that we say isn't clearly described for the consumer."

The proposed lawsuit says DHL conducted an "unlawful scheme" that breaches a section of the federal Competition Act and "constituted an unfair business practice contrary to consumer protection legislation" across Canada.

"DHL was unjustly enriched by its conduct," says the civil claim.

Go Public recently reported the story of a Calgary woman who — like Vallance — was surprised to learn that a chunk of the "duty and taxes" she believed she owed the government for importing a soccer jersey for her son was actually going to DHL as a processing fee.

After her story was published, Go Public heard from dozens of other customers who felt they, too, were misled by notifications from DHL that suggested all the additional fees — on top of the shipping already paid — were government charges.

According to the company's website, DHL is the biggest international courier company in the world, headquartered in Germany. With more than 380,000 employees, it serves more than 220 countries and territories and delivers almost 1.6 billion parcels a year.

DHL has yet to file a statement of defence, and the class action has not been certified — which determines whether it moves forward.

When contacted for a response, DHL spokesperson Daniel McGrath said the company does not comment "on active legal matters." When contacted about our previous Go Public story about alleged hidden fees, DHL spokesperson Hazel Valencia said information about the company's processing fee "is available on the DHL website."
Who is included in proposed class action?

Although filed in B.C., the proposed class action represents all residents of Canada who have paid DHL fees.

It seeks compensation for people who "sustained loss and damage" by paying DHL's processing or brokerage fees.

It also seeks payment for the "stress and anxiety" caused by spending time investigating the fees charged by DHL, communicating with DHL and reporting the company's "unlawful conduct" to the Better Business Bureau and other consumer protection organizations.

The proposed class action is similar to one filed on behalf of Ontario residents against United Parcel Service in 2007. It, too, centred on brokerage fees that were charged to customers — allegedly without their knowledge. The case was settled in 2018.

Go Public is an investigative news segment on CBC-TV, radio and the web.

We tell your stories, shed light on wrongdoing and hold the powers that be accountable.

If you have a story in the public interest, or if you're an insider with information, contact GoPublic@cbc.ca with your name, contact information and a brief summary. All emails are confidential until you decide to Go Public.

Read more stories by Go Public.

Biden going ahead with big Trump 

fighter-jet sale to UAE

MEET THE NEW BOSS, 

SAME AS THE OLD BOSS



The Biden administration says it will go ahead with a big Trump administration sale of jet fighters and advanced armed drones to the United Arab Emirates, over objections from Democrats and some others that the Gulf country is fueling conflicts around the Middle East.

The administration initially had paused some Trump-era arms sales to Gulf countries for review, including a $23 billion transfer of F-35 combat aircraft, M-Q9 drones and related weapons to the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. officials argue that the nation benefits from having strong strategic partners with interoperable defence systems. The sales also benefit American arms manufacturers. The United States remains the world's top arms exporter, with half of its sales between 2015 and 2019 going to the Middle East, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

A State Department official, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the sale, said the U.S. would be working with the UAE in the years leading up to delivery to try to make sure the arms are used in accordance with human rights standards and the laws of war.

Opponents to the UAE arms deal accuse the Gulf nation of harmful interference in conflicts in the Middle East, including rights abuses as a combatant in the war in Yemen, and diverting weapons to militias in Yemen and Libya.

Senate Democrats had tried and failed to muster support in the Senate for blocking the deal, announced by the Trump administration in its final months. Some arms-trade experts, including William Hartung of the Center for International Policy, had urged the Biden administration not to go ahead with the deal, saying it contradicted Biden’s pledge of a foreign policy in line with human rights and American values.

Ellen Knickmeyer, 

The Associated Press

4/14/2021

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Amazon claims social network Parler trying to conceal owners

SEATTLE — Amazon has accused Parler, the social network known as a conservative alternative to Twitter, of trying to conceal its ownership amid a legal dispute between Amazon and Parler stemming from the U.S. Capitol riots.

Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Parler, disputed Amazon's claim and argued that the burden was on Amazon to prove who owns Parler, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday.

“This is a ginned-up effort to try to throw mud at Parler, when Parler has been completely clear about its ownership,” Calfo said.

The legal dispute began in January after Amazon Web Services, the Seattle company's cloud-computing division, stopped working with Parler, temporarily wiping the platform off the internet. Amazon said Parler was unable to moderate a rise in violent content before, during and after the January insurrection.

Parler asked a federal judge in Seattle to force Amazon to reinstate it on the web. That effort failed. Parler then filed a new complaint over the same argument against Amazon in King County Superior Court.

Amazon immediately dragged the case back into federal court, where it was assigned the same judge who had ruled against Parler. Parler objected to the move, arguing the court has no jurisdiction over the case since both Amazon and Parler are incorporated in Delaware.

Amazon was originally incorporated in Seattle but reincorporated in Delaware in 1996, the Times reported.

Amazon said Parler has not shown it is a Delaware-based company, in part because it has not disclosed its owner.

Parler did share information about its corporate structure with Amazon at the start of its lawsuit, Calfo said. But the documents were sealed to protect the identities of the parties due to threats of violence.

Republican political donor Rebekah Mercer has confirmed she helped bankroll the site and has emerged in recent months as the network's shadow executive after its founder John Matze was ousted as CEO in February. But it remains unclear if she controls the social network. If so, the case against Amazon will likely be heard in front of a Seattle judge.

Parler is now online again, hosted by SkySilk, a Los Angeles-based cloud-computing company.

The Associated Press

Toshiba's CEO has stepped down but board members planned to oust him before the controversy over a $20 billion buyout bid, sources say

insider@insider.com (Reuters,Kate Duffy) 

4/14/2021

REUTERS/Issei Kato Toshiba Corp chief executive Nobuaki Kurumatani. 

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Toshiba board members planned to replace Nobuaki Kurumatani before the buyout bid, sources said.
Kurumatani resigned from Toshiba on Wednesday. Chairman Satoshi Tsunakawa will replace him.
The board chairman Osamu Nagayama went to a meeting "to fire" him, one of the sources told Reuters.

Toshiba board members planned to oust CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani before CVC Capital Partners launched a $20 billion buyout bid last week, sources told Reuters.

Kurumatani on Wednesday resigned from Toshiba. Chairman Satoshi Tsunakawa, who led the company beforehand, will replace him.

The board told Kurumatani the day before the offer was announced that they would replace him, sources who didn't want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue told Reuters.

On the subject of Kurumatani stepping down, Toshiba told Insider: "It is a resignation in the middle of the CEO's term of office, which is unusual, but the resignation is decided by Mr. Kurumatani himself and should be respected."

Two members of Toshiba Corp's nomination committee, including board chairman Osamu Nagayama, met Kurumatani, himself a former CVC executive, before the buyout bid and told him they were looking for a new CEO, sources told Reuters.

Although the board hadn't formally started the process of replacing Kurumatani, the plan was already in motion, Reuters reported. Nagayama, who also heads the nomination committee, went to the meeting "to fire" him, one of the sources said.

Reuters reported that Kurumatani then informed them of the European private equity firm's plan to take Toshiba private. A day later, the Japanese conglomerate announced it had received the offer, two sources added.

The events of the meeting show how Kurumatani's tenure was undone by his flagging popularity even before the offer was announced. It marked the culmination of deepening discord between Kurumatani and activist shareholders, who had raised concern over what they said were governance issues.

The plan to remove him appears to have accelerated after the meeting on April 6 at Toshiba's headquarters in Tokyo. Toshiba on Wednesday said Kurumatani was stepping down after some three years as CEO.

Support for him both within the company and among investors had eroded, a person briefed on the matter said.

"A survey of managers at Toshiba showed low support for Kurumatani," the person who was briefed said. There was "deep distrust" of him among shareholders, they added.

Toshiba said Kurumatani was stepping down to "recharge" after achieving his plan to revive the conglomerate that had been weakened by an accounting scandal.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Kurumatani for comment about plans to have him replaced. Toshiba said it couldn't comment on speculation. Nagayama declined to comment. A representative for CVC Japan declined to comment.
Read the original article on Business Insider

Rocky View Schools latest board to pass on testing Alberta's controversial draft curriculum

Rocky View Schools, the fifth largest school board in the province serving more than 26,000 students at 51 schools in areas surrounding Calgary, will not pilot the new provincial K-6 curriculum this fall.

Sarah Rieger CBC 4/14/2021

© Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock 

Rocky View Schools is the latest school board to announce it will not be piloting Alberta's new draft curriculum.

The pandemic is expected to continue to create a burden on both students and teachers going into the next school year, the board said in a release Tuesday, so it hopes to avoid putting additional pressure on an already difficult situation.

"While we appreciate that the government has provided flexibility in piloting, we have heard from our administration and many parents and staff requesting that the pilot does not occur in RVS classrooms for a number of reasons," said board chair Fiona Gilbert.

"Piloting a new curriculum will only put more pressure on teachers, schools and the system while we work through recovering from the impacts of the pandemic."

Gilbert said there were also concerns about some of the approaches and topics outlined in the curriculum, and that the board was not comfortable putting it before students at this time.

Rocky View Schools is the fifth largest school board in the province, and serves more than 26,000 students at 51 schools in areas surrounding Calgary.

The board's superintendent said Rocky View Schools will focus on bringing teachers and principals together to provide feedback on the curriculum, and identify needed changes.

Rocky View Schools is the latest of several school boards across the province to reject the K-6 curriculum pilot project, including the Calgary Board of Education, Edmonton Public Schools, Edmonton Catholic, as well as the Métis Nation of Alberta and Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations.

The new curriculum has been criticized by both educators and parents for its approach toward religion, Indigenous history and colonialism, among other topics.

A plagiarism expert also found multiple instances of passages that closely resembled other sources.

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told CBC News last month that school district participation in the pilot project was voluntary but that she hoped to have representation from urban and rural schools.

The province has said the new curriculum will be mandatory for all Alberta elementary schools to teach by September 2022.

Laurentian University students and graduates, politicians condemn 'devastating' cuts

CBC/Radio-Canada 

SUDBURY

4/14/2021

© Erik White/CBC Laurentian University officials say the target date for completion of the key components of its financial restructuring plan is April 30. More information is available at laurentianu.info.

Students at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., continue to react to news the school is cutting dozens of programs and laying off about 100 professors.

Laurentian made the announcement Monday after declaring itself financially insolvent earlier this year. The school filed for creditor protection on Feb. 1, a first for a university in the province. In total, 69 programs were cut, including 28 in French.

Second-year student and university newspaper editor Lexey Burns says students have told her they are ashamed to be associated with the school.

"I had one girl text me yesterday wondering if a Laurentian degree would be respectable anymore," she said.

Others, she said, are wondering whether wearing clothes with Laurentian logos would be an embarrassment.

Laurentian University's financial challenges have existed for years. A court-appointed monitor's report says ongoing deficits were made worse by Ontario's tuition reduction and freeze, declining domestic enrolment, capital expenditures, the closure of its Barrie campus, and expenses related to the pandemic.

Burns says she's heard the argument that the cutbacks will enable the university to become leaner, but she doesn't agree.

"They say it's going to be a Laurentian 2.0 and I think they got the numbers mixed up. It's definitely more of a 0.2," Burns said.

"They've gotten rid of almost every single humanities program at Laurentian."
Midwifery program gone

Like Burns, the future for midwifery student Annette Cloutier is also up in the air.

Cloutier says cutting the midwifery program will impact students, as well as people in the region.

"A woman who wants midwifery care, woman-centered care, that is culturally appropriate, this is important to northern Ontario," she said.

"This should be available and accessible to northern Ontario women."

Recent Laurentian graduate Monseguela Thes says what's happening at the school will affect students and professors for years to come.

Thes graduated from the school last year with a business administration degree. He's originally from the Ivory Coast and says the cuts could affect where international students choose to go.

"I don't think people would feel free to come to Laurentian. It would be very difficult," he said. "I'm sure that it will be very tough for people to come back."
Politicians point fingers

Politicians are worried, too.

Nickel Belt NDP MPP France Gélinas and Sudbury NDP MPP Jamie West said in question period Tuesday that Premier Doug Ford needs to fund Laurentian and stop the layoffs.

"Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano believe students, staff and the community around Laurentian aren't worth investment," said West.

Gélinas said Laurentian's more than 8,000 full- and part-time students are worried and deserve answers.

"Instead of being focused on their final projects and studying for their year-end exams, Laurentian students have been worried about their futures," said Gélinas.

She notes that Laurentian University is designated under Ontario's French Language Services Act, which means its French programs are protected.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, NDP MP Charlie Angus, who represents Timmins-James Bay, says the cutbacks are an act of national vandalism.

"You cannot treat a public institution, like a university or a hospital or any other public institution, as though it were just some mine that went bankrupt and you're going to sell off the assets," he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also weighed in on Laurentian's crisis, saying the federal government is waiting to see what steps the provincial government takes before offering support.

In a statement to CBC News, the office of Ontario's minister of colleges and universities says for most students, particularly if they are close to graduating, they will be able to complete their degree using all or part of the modules of terminated programs, "either through course substitutions at Laurentian or through letters of permission.

"For a small number of students, Laurentian will assist them in transition to a related program or another institution."

The ministry says it has provided Laurentian with "consistent operating grants ... over the last five years, of close to $80 million a year," and that it provided the school with "far more funding than other institutions."

Those grants accounted for more than 40 per cent of Laurentian's total revenue in 2019-20, the ministry says, compared to a 23 per cent average for the universities' sector overall.

'Worst time possible'

For students like Kristiina Raisanen, the instability caused by Monday's announcement is fuelling a sense of anxiety.

The second-year student is pursuing a double major in political science and philosophy. Her program is also being terminated.

"I spent most of my day [Monday] crying and trying to work through the rest of my semester's work at the same time. This announcement is coming at the literal worst time possible. We're in one of our last weeks of school right now, and I have two papers and two exams to do by the end of this week," she said.

"It feels like the rug has been pulled from underneath my feet and I'm just perpetually falling."

Regina committee delays vote on federal conversion therapy ban

Regina’s community wellness committee had to delay a vote on conversion therapy legislation Wednesday morning, working its way through a lengthy list of delegates speaking on two resolutions.

The resolutions are: The committee recommend to council for "the Mayor to write to the Federal Government on behalf of Regina City Council in support of Bill C-6,” and the approval of that recommendation at council’s April 28 meeting.

Committee chair and councillor Andrew Stevens (Ward 3) allowed 16 of the 26 scheduled delegates to speak.

By noon they were out of time, prompting Stevens to schedule an additional meeting next week for the remaining speakers.

The federal Bill C-6 had its first reading on Oct. 1 and its second on Dec. 11.

The committee’s documents noted the federal Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights had to amend its definition of conversion therapy, re-introduced at the Dec. 11 reading.

That definition says conversion therapy “means a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change a person’s gender or gender expression to cisgender, or to repress or reduce nonheterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour or non-cisgender gender expression.”

The definition also says it doesn’t include “a practice, treatment or service that relates to the exploration and development of an integrated personal identity without favouring any particular sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”

Emmanuel Sanchez, who grew up in Regina and moved to Calgary in January 2020, is one of the delegates who spoke opposing the resolutions based on Ottawa’s definition of conversion therapy.

“I would absolutely get on board and support a federal conversion therapy ban, as long as it is worded correctly and truly bans the things they're trying to ban,” he told the Leader-Post.

His critique is the proposed ban only allows for affirmative-type counselling, while prohibiting counselling work that challenges a client.

Sanchez, now a youth pastor, cited his personal story as an example.

He grew up in his Regina church community with same-sex attractions, eventually having gay relationships when he turned 16.

Trying to understand himself, he sought counselling from a therapist who affirmed his gay identity, but didn’t alleviate his anxiety, depression or suicidal wishes.

Sanchez said another therapist, a church pastor “who neither affirmed nor condemned my choices,” helped him work through his mental health struggles.

Following his Christian faith, he has chosen to live a celibate life while seeing therapists to work through his same-sex attractions.

Since Calgary passed a municipal bylaw banning conversion therapy last May, Sanchez has been denied services.

“I still require support and counsel to help me live the life I've chosen,” he said. “I've been denied by (counselling agencies), because it has to do with helping me to live a celibate life.”

Wednesday’s resolutions don’t, as of yet, seek to create a municipal bylaw banning conversion therapy, like what’s been done in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon.

Sanchez encouraged the committee, if a municipal ban is created, to ensure it respects “the individual's freedom at any age to chose the type of support they want and their desired goals.”

Calgary's bylaw allows for fines of up to $10,000 to be levied against people or businesses who violate it.

eradford@postmedia.com

Evan Radford, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Regina Leader-Post, The Leader-Post

Savings drawdown could add half a percent to global growth: think-tank

PARIS (Reuters) - The global economy could grow half a percentage point faster next year if households spend some of the huge savings they built up during the coronavirus pandemic, a French economic think-tank said on Wednesday

.

© Reuters/FABIAN BIMMER 

Lockdown in the streets of Hamburg

With businesses such as restaurants, cinemas and hotels still closed in many countries, many households in developed countries have accumulated far greater savings than normal.

Whether households start spending these savings or sit on them in anticipation of financial challenges ahead is one of the biggest puzzles facing economists and policymakers as they try to figure out how fast economies will recover from the pandemic.

The OFCE think-tank approached the issue by comparing a scenario for major economies where households spend in 2022 a fifth of the extra savings they built up during 2020 and 2021 with a scenario in which they do not.

Under the first scenario, global economic growth was seen at 4.5% next year and under the second it came out at 4.0%, the OFCE said in an update of its global forecasts.

The U.S. economy was seen achieving growth next year of 5.9% under the first scenario and of 3.7% without the boost from savings being spent down.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, could see 5.5% growth next year under the first scenario and 4.1% under the second, while French growth would reach 6.0% and 4.3% respectively.

Britain could see growth of 5.0% with a savings drawdown or 3.2% without while Italy was seen at 5.5% and 3.9% respectively.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Gareth Jones)

DEAD CAPITAL*

Businesses are sitting on record $130B in excess cash, but will they invest it coming out of the pandemic?

THEY DIDN'T INVEST IT PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC

Bianca Bharti 
FINANCIAL POST

4/ 14/2021    

Canadian businesses are sitting on a record cash pile, but whether and how they spend it may determine the shape of the post-pandemic recovery, according to a recent report from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

© Provided by Financial Post

In the report, CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal estimated that businesses are currently sitting on $130 billion in excess cash, a level “above and beyond” what would have been the case without the pandemic.

The report followed the bank’s November estimate that Canadian households — made frugal by lockdowns and layoffs — had accumulated more than $90 billion, in no small part thanks to federal aid programs.

“We know (households) are going to spend part of it and that is one of the reasons we expect a very strong recovery,” Tal told the Financial Post in an interview. Households are expected to lead a seven-per-cent annualized rate of growth in second half of the year, according to the report.

“Now we look at businesses and we found that they sit on even more excess cash. So the question is whether or not this money will be spent to reverse the decline in business investment.”

Tal pointed out that businesses’ participation in Canada’s economic recovery could be limited by a couple of factors.

Canadian households and businesses sitting on $170 billion excess cash hoard: CIBC

Canadian businesses still worry about survival even as the pandemic's end draws closer

One major inhibitor to business investment is the federal government’s Canadian Emergency Business Account program, which provides interest-free loans of up to $40,000 and recently expanded to $60,000. More than 500,000 Canadian businesses have received CEBA support so far, which totals more than $46 billion.

Most of that money will have to be paid back, Tal said, save for $20,000 which will be considered a grant if a businesses pays the rest of the loan back by December next year.

The second inhibitor lies in which sectors performed well during the pandemic.

“Those sectors that were benefitting from the crisis, they don’t really show any significant increase in business investment intentions,” Tal said.

Technology companies and manufacturers, for example, are reluctant to invest more than normal because they anticipate their demand to go down once life returns to normal.

At the same time, sectors that suffered during the pandemic — such as oil and gas — have indicated a need to invest even though their cash reserves plummeted.

“It’s really consistent with the narrative of this crisis, which I (describe) as deep but narrow,” Tal said.

By deep but narrow, he means the impact for sectors is “very deep” for those that experienced losses, but also narrow and limited to a few sectors compared to any other recession.

Mostafa Askari, chief economist at the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, said once macroeconomic conditions normalize, business investment will pick up. However, until then, consumers will lead the recovery because their desire to spend has been mounting over the course of numerous lockdowns.

“There has to be a view that the economy is going to grow at a healthy pace, that the COVID impact is gone and global conditions are going back to normal,” he said. “All those effects will encourage businesses to increase their investment.”

*A TERM MADE POPULAR BY GOV OF THE BANK OF CANADA; MARK CARNEY