'Profound effect' of COVID-19 is transforming Canada's labour market

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'Labour slack,' not conventional unemployment, key to recovery: Bank of Canada

Don Pittis · CBC News · Posted: Sep 10, 2021 

The Canadian economy may have added 90,000 jobs in August, but employment in some sectors including hotels and restaurants is still below pre-pandemic levels. Adding to the complicated jobs picture, some businesses are reporting a struggle to rehire employees. 2:01

There are signs that the Canadian jobs landscape is currently going through a transformation that will affect us all, but with the country in the midst of an election, many of the complex issues have been hard to address.

Jobs numbers out Friday morning show the Canadian economy created 90,000 new jobs in August, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.1 per cent.  

Despite signs of an economic slowdown in late spring, it was another month of jobs gains, after Statistics Canada reported the economy created 94,000 jobs in July, driving the unemployment rate down to 7.5 per cent.

Heading toward full employment

But whatever the short-term progress on job creation, many in the know — including Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem — see the Canadian economy charging back toward full employment this year and next, as the central bank considers cutting back on stimulus and raising interest rates.

• Canada added 94,000 jobs in July, pushing jobless rate down to 7.5%

Speaking Thursday in French to the Quebec Chamber of Commerce, Macklem described both a strong recovery in jobs hit hard by COVID-19 and at the same time a complicated shift in the way Canadians work.

"It is clear that the pandemic has had a profound effect on the labour market," Macklem said in a question-and-answer session after his speech. He described the impact as complex.

The Bank of Canada says reopening Canadian restaurants, like this one in Ottawa, is helping to reduce employment inequality caused by the pandemic, but many employers say they continue to have trouble finding workers. (Mathieu Theriault/CBC/Radio-Canada)

As many reports have suggested, despite high unemployment, employers complain that many jobs remain vacant. The K-shaped recovery has meant that some of the lowest-paid workers have been the most affected, including those in retail and restaurants. Macklem said he expects the recovery in those sectors to lead to a "reduction in those inequalities."

In the current election campaign, all of the candidates know that jobs remain an important issue. An outline of the parties' positions on jobs is encapsulated in this CBC platform outline (scroll down or click on "Jobs" on the directory at the left).

• U.S. added just 235,000 jobs last month, well short of expectations

• Students urged to go into trades as industry faces labour shortage

But as former Progressive Conservative leader Kim Campbell once famously implied, it is sometimes hard to address issues in all of their complexity while on the stump. Some of the profound effects that Macklem mentioned are still not understood and do not lend themselves to election time sound bites.

In an effort to get a handle on the confusing state of the current labour market, the Bank of Canada is currently working on a forthcoming research paper titled Assessing Labour Market Slack for Monetary Policy.

'Labour slack,' not unemployment, is key

"Labour slack," while it includes the unemployed people measured by the Friday jobs numbers, is much more than that. It includes all of the people who would really like to work more but for various reasons disappear from the jobless numbers.

It is a concept familiar to Jim Stanford, the well-known labour economist who now heads the Canadian-Australian Centre for Future Work.

As he said in an email conversation, a 7.5 per cent rate of unemployment is just the tip of the iceberg.

• Looking for a new career? Here are 3 jobs that are in high demand right now

"It doesn't count people working very short hours, who want and need more work," Stanford said, pointing out that Statistics Canada counts you as employed if you work a single hour in a week. "It also excludes people who want to work but aren't actively seeking it to the satisfaction of Statistics Canada's definition."

According to "labour slack" definitions, there are more like three million Canadians who want more work, representing a labour underutilization rate of about 15 per cent.

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, shown last year, has said that while the official jobless rate continues to fall, 'labour slack' means the economy needs more stimulus. (Blair Gable/Reuters)

These kinds of numbers — rather than just the unemployment rate we see in news headlines — are why Macklem insists the central bank must continue to stimulate the economy with low interest rates and bond purchases.

"The [Bank of Canada's] Governing Council judges that the Canadian economy still has considerable excess capacity, and that the recovery continues to require extraordinary monetary policy support," the central bank said in its Wednesday monetary policy report, a point reiterated in Macklem's Thursday speech.

4th wave danger

One of Macklem's fears for the economy is if a fourth wave leads to more labour slack. The longer people are unemployed, or underemployed in jobs that don't use their skills, the more those skills will lose their value in the labour market.

In the U.S., analysts are trying to understand a labour market where there are 10 million jobs going begging and eight million people begging for work. In Canada, the difference is not so stark, but employers in many parts of the country continue to complain they cannot find workers in a post-pandemic world. It remains a conundrum.

• ANALYSIS
  Painful as it may be, pandemic wage and business subsidies will eventually stop

Many small businesses and their representatives at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) have blamed government handouts. Last month, the CFIB's senior vice-president of national affairs, Corinne Pohlmann, told me that "people should not be better off on a government-assistance program than they would be when they were working."

Stanford, a longtime advocate for a living wage, dismisses the CFIB's complaint, saying it is clear that the market is telling us that businesses that cannot find workers should be paying more. U.S. studies, referred to above, indicate the pandemic has shown people that there is more to life than working long and unpredictable shifts at an unpleasant job. Others have taken the opportunity to change careers and seek better jobs.

WATCH | Jobs in health care, food and transportation in high demand:According to a recent poll from KPMG, 70 per cent of Canadian businesses are struggling to find skilled talent, with the health care, food and transportation industries in greatest need. 2:07

"Better wages will help. Better and more regular hours are even more important, I would suggest," Stanford said, going back to the labour slack argument. "Inadequate hours are a bigger source of low earnings than low wages."

He said training and offering a genuine career path — rather than expecting an endless supply of disposable workers — are more likely to attract employees at this stage.

• ANALYSIS
  Job killer or job creator? Experts predict a climate employment boom: Don Pittis

• ANALYSIS
  Post-COVID-19 economy will put people back to work, but it won't be in all the same jobs: Don Pittis

Stanford said he has seen evidence that many smart employers are already trying to do that.

For the Bank of Canada governor, while the pandemic may be helping to transform our economy and our job market, its disruptions for workers and employers is not over.

"The virus and pandemic-related disruptions have not gone away, and they will continue to disturb our lives and weigh on economic activity," Macklem said.

Follow Don on Twitter @don_pittis

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Pittis

Business columnist

Don Pittis was a forest firefighter, and a ranger in Canada's High Arctic islands. After moving into journalism, he was principal business reporter for Radio Television Hong Kong before the handover to China. He has produced and reported for the CBC in Saskatchewan and Toronto and the BBC in London. He is currently senior producer at CBC's business unit.

Unifor president Jerry Dias supports mandatory vaccination against COVID-19

By Josh RubinBusiness Reporter
Thu., Sept. 9, 2021


The head of Canada’s largest private sector union is challenging other labour leaders to be “more honest” with their members and to support COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

In an interview with the Star, Unifor president Jerry Dias said it was disingenuous for unions to push back against vaccine mandates by employers when the overwhelming weight of medical and legal arguments are stacked against them.

“Unions need to be more honest. Our lawyers have checked this thing out. And the bottom line is if an employer comes out with a mandatory vaccination policy, unless you have a bona fide medical reason ... it will be deemed legitimate for the employer to demand mandatory vaccinations,” said Dias.

“I’m not going to say to our members, ‘If you don’t wanna take it, screw it, we’ll take ’em on.’ Because I know if I take ’em on, I’ll lose. So if I’m telling people not to get vaccinated or don’t worry about it, and they get fired? They’ll stay fired,” Dias added.

Supporting vaccine mandates, said Dias, is also a way of honouring union members who have lost their lives to COVID-19.

“I’ve had PSWs, I’ve had homecare workers, I’ve had warehouse workers who’ve died. So am I supposed to take a cavalier attitude toward the fact my members, essential workers, have lost their lives on the front lines? I’m going to honour their lives by doing the right thing,” Dias said.

In recent weeks, several high-profile unions have come out against mandatory COVID vaccination policies announced by their members’ employers, including the TTC and Toronto Police Service. Many hospitals have also instituted similar policies.


Tuesday, Amalgamated Transit Union 113 president Carlos Santos described the TTC’s new policy as an “unfair and unjust intrusions into the lives of our members.”

“Whether vaccinated or not, we are asking all members to not disclose any private medical information to the TTC,” said Santos in a written statement, adding that the union isn’t opposed to vaccines.

Toronto Police Association president Jon Reid was heavily critical of the TPS’s August announcement that it was requiring members of the force to be vaccinated against COVID-19.


“The TPA must make every effort to protect all of our members and, therefore, does not support this mandatory vaccination announcement or mandatory disclosure,” Reid said.

Dias said he was especially baffled by the ATU’s position.

“I really don’t understand that. I represent bus drivers. And one thing I know about bus drivers is that they’re nervous. They know that they are in contact with people who have not been vaccinated, they’re in contact with people who have COVID. So they are nervous. They want to go to work safe. So suggesting somehow that a bus driver should not get vaccinated, to me makes no sense,” said Dias, who added that he’s come under criticism from some Unifor members for the union’s stance. Not that he particularly cares.

“You never listen to the loudest three per cent. The bottom line is that they’re not speaking for the majority. And so I don’t get caught up in listening to the last person that yelled at me. We take a position that we think is responsible,” said Dias.

Veteran labour and employment lawyer John Craig suggested that some unions might not be specifically against vaccine mandates, but are concerned about the mandates becoming the thin edge of the wedge from employers seeking more private information from their workers.

“I think there’s probably some concern about setting a precedent,” said Craig, a partner at Mathews Dinsdale & Clark, as well as a labour and employment lecturer at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

While collective agreements differ from workplace to workplace, Craig said unions pushing back against vaccine mandates would likely be on the losing side if they ended up in a court fight.

“These policies are largely based on the occupational health and safety obligations of an employer to create a safe workplace. I think that courts would be likely to decide that it’s a reasonable policy,” said Craig.


Some of his corporate clients, said Craig, have decided to accommodate employees who have decided not to be vaccinated, albeit with consequences, such as losing out on paid sick leave or medical benefits if they get infected with COVID.

But Craig cautioned that employees could face harsher consequences, depending on a company’s policies.

“If an employee is choosing not to share information, that’s wilful non-compliance with a company policy. There will be consequences,” said Craig.

Still, though, the speed at which courts, human rights and labour tribunals move could well mean that any legal rulings are moot by the time they’re made, Craig added.

“That litigation could take a long, long time. Let’s hope that by then the pandemic will be over,” Craig said.

 

Unions split on jab mandates

The Canadian Press - Sep 10, 2021 / 6:45 pm | Story: 345431

Photo: The Canadian Press

Unifor president Jerry Dias makes remarks to the De Havilland picket line at the Downsview plant

 in Toronto on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. is warning members who refuse to receive a COVID-19

 vaccination that they could end up losing their jobs if their company adopts a vaccine mandate.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

The head of Canada's largest private sector labour union has a blunt message for Unifor staff: Get vaccinated or find another job.

The union recently advised its 425 staff members that they will be placed on an unpaid leave of absence until they get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"And if they don't get vaccinated within a reasonable period of time, well then that's fine," said Jerry Dias. "They can work for another organization. I'm not messing around with this."

Dias also has a warning for Unifor members who are holding out against being vaccinated, saying they could end up losing their jobs if their employer adopts a vaccine mandate.

"If people are terminated because they make the decision that they're not going to be vaccinated, then our lawyers are saying to us that they will stay terminated," Dias said in an interview.

The growing number of vaccine mandates in the public and private sectors have exposed a fault line in Canada's labour movement.

Canadian National Railway Co. and WestJet Airlines are among the latest large employers to announce their vaccination policies, following an Aug. 13 directive from Ottawa that requires all employees in federally regulated industries to be vaccinated.

Both railways and airlines are members of that group, which also includes banks, telecommunications companies and employees of Crown corporations.

Montreal-based CN will require all employees in Canada, contractors, consultants, agents, suppliers and anyone who accesses its Canadian properties to be vaccinated as of Nov. 1. It said requests for medical or religious exemptions will be considered on an individual basis.

Calgary-based WestJet's mandate is effective Oct. 30. The airline said it will accommodate employees who are unable to be vaccinated but those who fail to attest their vaccination status by Sept. 24 or achieve full-vaccination status by Oct. 30 will face unpaid leave or termination.

Like Air Canada, WestJet is not providing COVID-19 testing as an alternative to vaccination.

Unifor's executive committee voted unanimously to support vaccine mandates, and Ontario unions for elementary and secondary teachers have voiced their support for mandatory vaccinations in schools.

A pro-mandate position in the context of a pandemic is not surprising given the union's duty to protect the health and safety of its members, says Alison Braley-Rattai, assistant professor of labour studies at Brock University.

"In a different context, however, that could change," she wrote in an email.

"For example, if your employer wanted you to be vaccinated against some non-transmissible disease to reduce the risk of you being absent from work due to illness, a union would likely oppose such a policy."

Whether employees should face job loss is also an open question given that we don't know how things will look a year from now, she said.

"A union could readily argue that termination is an extreme response to a mandate that may end up being temporary, and that the worst thing one should face is a temporary unpaid leave."

Unions opposed to vaccine mandates include the Toronto Police Association and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents public transit workers in Toronto and the York Region.

Police association president Jon Reid said it will "make every effort to protect all of our members and therefore, does not support this mandatory vaccination announcement or mandatory disclosure."

ATU local 113 president Carlos Santos pushed back against the Toronto Transit Commission's mandatory vaccination policy.

The union has urged members not to disclose any private medical information to the country's largest transit authority.

"ATU Local 113 opposes this policy, and we will fight to defend your right to make your own personal health decisions and protect your private medical information," Santos said in a letter to members on the union's website.

Santos added that the union will oppose any discipline imposed on members.

However, Dias said the labour movement should be candid with people about whether unions can actually block terminations.

"I think there's a lot of unions out there that frankly don't have the political will to be honest," he said, adding that the union isn't obligated to take a case to arbitration.

"According to our lawyers, if they are fired for refusing to take a vaccine and they don't have a bona fide medical reason to do so that an arbitrator will very likely side with the employer."

While the Canadian Labour Congress supports vaccinations, it says the country's unions are concerned that mandatory vaccinations will hand employers overreaching powers.

"Any decision to impose mandatory vaccination policies must be based on scientific evidence and be made by public health officials, not employers or unions," it stated in a news release.

It said unions must be consulted in the development and implementation of any mandatory vaccination policies with exemptions and accommodations and privacy protections being essential.

The central labour body in Canada said it rejects threats of discipline or termination as an approach to increasing vaccination rates.

"Unions will defend workers’ interests and insist employers respect the terms and conditions of the collective agreement and human rights codes."

Various national unions similarly support vaccines in general while seeking oversight for sweeping employer mandates.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says governments and employers need to consult with unions before finalizing and implementing vaccine policies. It also says workers who cannot be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons must be accommodated under human rights legislation.

"As a union, we recognize our obligation to those members who are not vaccinated," it stated, adding that alternate work arrangements, screening and testing before entering the workplace can be effective.

Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Chris Aylward said it supports the government's goals but the verification of vaccination or medical status of members must respect their legal right to privacy.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) said it categorically reject terminations and discipline as leverage to increase vaccination rates.

"Punitive policies are not conducive for a positive workplace and a healthy relationship with employees."

Teamsters Canada questioned the urgency of the government's push for a vaccine mandate given alternative ways to encourage vaccination.

"Canada already has one of the world’s best vaccination programmes, and other measures like provincial vaccine passport systems had promising potential."

Battle of the tennis teens: Laval's Fernandez loses U.S. Open final to Raducanu

The Grand Slam title match in New York on Saturday was the first between two unseeded players

.
Author of the article:Montreal Gazette
Publishing date:Sep 11, 2021 • 

Laval's Leylah Fernandez hits a forehand against Emma Raducanu of Great Britain in the women's singles final of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, in Flushing, N.Y. 

PHOTO BY ROBERT DEUTSCH /USA TODAY Sports


Leylah Fernandez, 19, who visibly fought fatigue, lost in two straight sets to fellow Canadian Emma Raducanu, 18, but who plays out of Great Britain.

The final U.S. Open matchup was the first between two unseeded players.

Raducanu had service to start the match and she drew first blood, winning the game.

She broke Fernandez’s serve to go up 2-0 early in the first set after a hard-fought second game that went to five deuces and featured long rallies.

Fernandez broke Raducanu’s serve in the third game to narrow her lead to 2-1, which again saw three deuces.

The Laval native bore down to take the next game and square the contest at 2-2.

Raducanu took the lead back and the match was at 3-2 early in the first set, but Fernandez smartly replied to tie it 3-3.

The two teenagers continued their hard battle with terrific back and forth action, but it was Raducanu who finally regained the momentum with a 4-3 lead as Fernandez struggled with her serve, recording only a 45-per-cent success rate.

However, Fernandez, who appeared to be tiring, held her serve and tied the tight match at 4-4, but Raducanu again takes the lead at 5-4, forcing Fernandez to hold serve in the next game or lose the set.

Fernandez valiantly tried to rescue the set by surviving four set points, but Raducanu ended up the winner of the first set 6-4.

Raducanu didn’t let up, winning the first game in the second set, but Fernandez fought back down 40-0 in the next game to tie the second set at 1-1.

Egged on by the crowd, Fernandez broke Raducanu’s serve to go up two games to one. Raducanu didn’t falter and won the next game to tie the second set at 2-2. And she didn’t stop there, taking a 3-2 lead with tight, but entertaining, play on the court.

The match started to get away from Fernandez as Raducanu jumped out to to a 40-15 advantage and won the next two games, holding a commanding 5-2 lead in the second set.

The deciding game went to deuce as Fernandez gamely tried to hang on and she held the first advantage, only to go back to deuce again. Raducanu went up on advantage, but Fernandez tied it deuce.

Fighting to stave off Raducanu’s championship point, Fernandez held advantage and then won the game to stay in the match 5-3.

Fernandez had the crowd roaring their approval as she held a 40-30 lead in the next game and then had to wait when Raducanu needed medical treatment for a cut on her shin.

Fernandez looked like she was complaining to the umpire on the length of the medical timeout, which lasted five minutes.

Raducanu was serving and took the game to deuce, before winning the championship point with a service ace and the U.S. Open title 6-4, 6-3.

“As for the three weeks I’ve spent in New York I would say that having such a supportive team like I have over there… everyone in that team and everyone back home who isn’t here but is watching on TV thank you so much,” said Raducanu, who will shoot up from 150th to No. 24 in the world rankings on Monday.

“Most of all I would say thank you to everyone here New York thank you all for making me feel so at home from my first qualifying match all the way to the final.”

“I know on this day it was especially hard for New York and everyone around the United States,” said Fernandez, the match played as Americans commemorated the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

“I just want to say that I hope I can be as strong and as resilient as New York has been the past 20 years.”

When asked before the match what her last two weeks was like Fernandez replied: “It’s been incredible. I’ve been having a lot fun on the court. I’ve been having fun. I can’t wait for the final today.”

Raducanu, who was born in Toronto and moved to Great Britain when she was two, was ranked 336th in the world earlier this year. She’s the first player in history to have made it all the way from the qualifying round to a Grand Slam final.

“It’s so exciting to be in my second Grand Slam and in the final. I can’t believe it,” Raducanu said before the first volley.

Fernandez’s string at victories at the U.S. Open included knocking off former world No. 1 ranked players Naomi Osaka, who has won four Grand Slam events, and Angelique Kerber who has three titles.

She also stunned the fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals and the second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.

After the win over Sabalenka on Thursday night, Fernandez cited the training that lead to her success.”It has taken years and years of hard work, blood and on-court, off-court sacrifice,” she said in the on-court interview. “I just wanted to be in the final, and I fought for every point and Aryna fought for the same thing.”

She also related the story about a former teacher who told her to quit tennis. “She told me to stop playing tennis, you will never make it, and just focus on school,” Fernandez said. “I’m glad she told that because every day I have that phrase in my head saying: ‘I’m going to keep going, push through, prove to her everything I’ve dreamed of, I’m going to prove.'”

The Future Of Agriculture Combined With Renewable Energy Finds Success At Jack’s Solar Garden

Reed Point, Montana, solar farm. Image courtesy of Kyle Field, CleanTechnica.

By U.S. Department of Energy


Byron Kominek, owner of Jack’s Solar Garden, tills the soil at the farm in Longmont, Colorado. Jack’s Solar Garden is a 1.2-MW, five-acre community solar farm and is the largest agrivoltaics research project in the United States. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL

A 24-acre family farm purchased by Jack Stingerie in 1972 that grew hay, wheat, and hosted cattle over time has now evolved into a model for how to produce energy and food in tandem.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) InSPIRE project partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Colorado State University, University of Arizona, and father-and-son team Kurt and Byron Kominek to create Jack’s Solar Garden, a successful agrivoltaics project in Longmont, Colorado. Multiple agrivoltaics activities including crop production, pollinator habitat, ecosystem services, and pasture grass for grazing are being researched across the site.

“Jack’s Solar Garden was named after my grandfather, as we wanted this project to do more for our family as well as the community Jack moved us into,” said Byron Kominek, Jack’s Solar Garden owner and manager.

Jack’s Solar Garden is the largest commercially active agrivoltaics system researching crop and vegetation growth under photovoltaic solar panels in the United States. The garden generates enough power for more than 300 homes from 3,276 solar panels (6 ft and 8 ft) that create a 1.2-MW community solar garden. Audubon Rockies, a regional office of the bird protection society, established their largest Habitat Hero pollinator habitat in Colorado around the solar array, while a local nonprofit farming organization, Sprout City Farms, trains young farmers to cultivate crops under the solar panels.

“We couldn’t have built this agrivoltaics system without the support of our community, from the Boulder County government that enabled us to build the solar array with a forward-looking land-use code and clean-energy-centric regulations to the companies and residents who purchase power from us,” Kominek said. “We thoroughly appreciate all those who have contributed to our success and who speak kindly of our efforts.”

By creating the nonprofit Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center, Jack’s Solar Garden has been able to introduce communities to the future of agrivoltaics by inviting local schools and community groups to tour the farm. So far, over 500 guests have visited Jack’s Solar Garden in 2021 and more than 600 have been reached through off-site presentations. The tours and presentations inspire and teach students and community members how clean energy, local food, and responsible land use management can improve our society.

Since its launch in the fall of 2020, the agrivoltaics site has already logged over 250 volunteer hours and taught 23 K–12 students through three agrivoltaic workshops involving dance and film. Educators from 10 different schools on Colorado’s Front Range have been guided on special teacher tours, and four high school students have been advised on agrivoltaic capstone-project design. Many local government representatives have also visited the garden, including Colorado Secretary of Energy Will Toor and Colorado Secretary of Agriculture Kate Greenberg. The governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, visited the garden to sign legislation that allocated funding to support agrivoltaics research in the state.

“Jack’s Solar Garden provides us the most comprehensive and largest agrivoltaics research site in the nation while also providing other food access and educational benefits to the surrounding community,” said Jordan Macknick, principal investigator for InSPIRE, which stands for Innovative Site Preparation and Impact Reductions on the Environment. “It serves as a model that can be replicated for greater energy security and food security in Colorado and the nation.”

As of early September 2021, Sprout City Farms at Jack’s Solar Garden has already donated more than 1,500 pounds of produce to the local nonprofit organization OUR Center in Longmont. Sprout City Farms works with Jack’s Solar Garden and its research partners to collect data on vegetables produced in preparation for future agricultural activities within the solar array.

Activities at Jack’s Solar Garden are based on research conducted through the InSPIRE project, which utilizes field research sites across the United States to demonstrate opportunities for cost reductions and environmental compatibility of solar energy technologies through low-environmental-impact designs and approaches. Low-impact development strategies and pollinator-friendly solar can provide positive benefits for soil quality, carbon storage, stormwater management, microclimate conditions, and solar efficiencies. Studies in Arizona have shown that agrivoltaics can increase tomato and pepper yields while simultaneously reducing water needs and creating cooler microclimates underneath the panels.

Jack’s Solar Garden will serve as a model for an upcoming project with the city and county of Denver and the Denver Botanic Gardens — and likely many more to come. Byron Kominek, owner and manager of Jack’s Solar Garden, is also participating in the NREL Executive Energy Leadership Academy, where industry and community leaders learn about advanced energy technologies that can help guide their organizations in energy-related decisions and planning.

For more information, visit Jack’s Solar Garden, stay tuned for updates on more agrivoltaics projects, and read more about the InSPIRE project’s research at sites around the country.

Article courtesy of NREL.

Canadian Household Debt Is Rising Faster Than Income At A Record Rate

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Canadian household indicators are showing their debt problems are rapidly resurfacing. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows the ratio of household debt to disposable income surged in Q2 2021. This measure indicates debt is growing faster than the rate of income. Debt as a ratio of income has actually never seen such fast annual growth in Canada.

Canadian Households Have $1.73 In Debt For Every Dollar They Make 

Canadian households are borrowing much faster than their incomes are growing. Household credit market debt to disposable income reached 173.08% in Q2 2021. That’s up 0.30% percent from the previous quarter, and a massive 8.61% larger than the same quarter last year. More bluntly put, Canadians on average had $1.59 in debt for every dollar they made last year. Now they have $1.73 in debt for every dollar they made last quarter.

Canadian Household Debt To Income

The ratio of Canadian household market credit to disposable income.

Households See The Ratio Of Debt To Income Rise At A Record Rate

The jump from last year sounds big, but it needs to be seen in context to truly appreciate how large it is. The 8.61% annual increase is the largest seen going back to at least the 90s, but likely much further. It’s unusual for central banks to stimulate credit to this extent while households are borrowing.

Canadian Household Debt To Income Change

The annual percent change in the ratio of Canadian household market credit to disposable income.

Canada’s Boost To Household Income Was Transitory

The boosted credit growth is only partially due to credit outpacing disposable income. The other (larger) contributor is the pandemic’s distortion of disposable income readings. Government transfers at the start of the pandemic were much larger than the income lost at the time. It initially averaged two dollars of income support, for every dollar of income lost.

The temporarily boosted disposable income pushed the credit to debt ratio lower. In Q2 2020, the ratio fell to the lowest since 2009, losing 12.7% from the previous quarter. It would be amazing to see that kind of movement, but alas — that was simply a data skew. People were paying off more debt, but not to the extent the indicator might have implied to some.

There is a lot of focus on how costs have been skewed by temporary base effects, but not a lot on income. However, there was absolutely a temporary boost to disposable income. Support is now tapering, and debt indicators are rising close to pre-pandemic data. Experts currently see the most generous of supports completely gone by November. At that point, we’ll get a clearer picture of household finances, without the data skews.

Canadian Real Estate Is Now A Bubble On Top Of A Bubble: US Federal Reserve

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Either the Canadian real estate bubble is now a bubble on a bubble, or old enough it should be in school. The US Federal Reserve (the Fed) released its quarterly exuberance index for Q1 2021. The index, used to determine country-level housing bubbles, shows Canada is well into one. The unusual circumstances make it unclear if it’s a long bubble, or a double bubble. It does show Canadian home prices have been in bubble territory for 6 years without a correction.

Home Price Exuberance And Emotional Home Buyers

The Exuberance Index is a measure of buyer enthusiasm for higher prices. It measures the prices paid in contrast with fundamentals, looking for explosive dynamics. That’s how smart people say, buyers paying irrational amounts of money. Emotional premiums like this are not based on fundamentals. Consequently, the price of these homes is subject to how people feel. Emotions change faster than fundamentals, leaving markets more vulnerable to shock.

The Fed developed the indicator after the US Housing Bubble popped, and wreaked havoc. By looking for a “smoking gun” indicator to call bubbles, they can identify and address them early. This limits the damage that they might do to the economy.

They crunch the numbers, and make it straightforward for researchers to read. Two sets of numbers are given — a critical threshold value, and an exuberance index score. If the score rises above 95% of the critical threshold value, buyers are acting exuberantly. If the market stays in this territory for five or more consecutive quarters, the market is exuberant.

Exuberant markets are better known as bubbles. The Fed argues this will result in a correction at some point, but they obviously can’t pin down when. Policy and credit extensions are often designed to drag out a bubble. This can run for as long as the government can continue to create a larger bubble.

It’s generally not advised though, since bigger bubbles create more dangerous corrections. Extending them too long inevitably slows down the economy, causing its own event. If you think losing home equity is bad, imagine how bad things get when the economy is dependent on the bubble. On that note, let’s see where Canada is.

Canadian Real Estate Prices Are Based On Emotion, Not Reality

Canada just passed another fifth quarter of exuberance, after a microscopic break. Canadian housing once again became exuberant in Q1 2020. In Q4 2019, it took a brief break below the critical threshold value — just 0.01 points below it. Since then, the market has completed five consecutive quarters in the exuberant territory.

Canadian Real Estate Exuberance Index

The US Federal Reserve Exuberance Index for Canada, and critical value threshold. A market that is is above the threshold for 5 consecutive quarters is considered to be exuberant.

The Fed’s exuberance reading for Canada hasn’t been this high since 2017. Back then, it was due to Toronto and Vancouver, and the infamous foreign buyer mini-bubble. This time the whole darn country is actually showing signs of exuberance. Though it’s important to recognize, the current trend follows 15 quarters of exuberance. One quarter isn’t enough to have corrected prices, and it only fell slightly below that value.

Canadian Real Estate Has Been In A 6 Year Bubble… 

Or It’s A Bubble On A Bubble

There are two ways to look at this, and it’s just a technical labeling issue. Falling just 0.01 points below the threshold is likely within a margin of error. A single quarter isn’t enough for a new trend either. Remember, it takes five quarters for the market to be considered exuberant in the first place. In this case, the bubble would now be 24 quarters old, or about 6 years. Happy 6th birthday, Canadian Real Estate Bubble!

If you accept the break as definitive proof the first bubble was over in 2019, it’s two bubbles. Canada had a 19 quarter-long bubble, which ended in Q4 2019. It was then followed by the current bubble, which started one quarter later. In other words, it’s a bubble on a bubble.

Ultimately a label doesn’t change all that much. The facts are, buyers showed exuberance in 2015. Early signs weren’t tamed in 2016, which would have been the ideal time to address it. So it turned into a full-blown bubble. Since then there’s been no correction in home prices for the past six years.

Policymakers can either let it correct, or delay the correction until later, and hope it’s the next guy’s problem. By doing this, they’re actively creating more risks for Canada’s economy. No one knows when the bubble is going to pop, but we do know one thing for sure. When it happens, whoever’s in charge will say, “no one saw this coming.”

Federal Reserve researchers will try not to snicker, I’m sure.

Canada’s Economy Hits A New Record For Dependency On Real Estate Investment

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

The Canadian economy defied odds, and became more dependent on real estate investment. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) residential investment data shows a surge in current dollars for Q2 2021. The most recent quarter showed a massive climb — much bigger than GDP in general. This pushed residential investment’s share of the economy to a new record high. 

Residential Investment

Residential investment is the segment of gross domestic product (GDP) related to housing. It includes the construction of homes, significant renovations, and ownership transfer costs. The measure isn’t comprehensive, since other areas like banking are dependent on housing. But it’s the most direct contribution housing investment makes to GDP. 

Low growth in residential investment is typically seen during a recession. A lack of residential investment is a sign of consumers’ lacking confidence. Housing tends to involve borrowing for most people. People tend to borrow less if they’re worried about job stability. This is typical of a recessionary environment. 

High growth can be a sign of a large misallocation of capital — both financial and human. This tends to happen when money is cheap, and has too few places to land. The US at its peak bubble saw the share of residential investment rise to almost 7% of GDP. An overallocation can amplify an economic shock, which tends to purge inefficiencies. This is essentially what happened to the US, during the Great Recession. 

Canadian Residential Investment Jumped 25% Last Quarter

Canadian residential investment has been consuming more and more of the economy. Seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of   investment hit $249.3 billion in Q2 2021. This is 0.59% higher than the previous quarter. It’s a new record in current dollars, by a significant margin. 

Isolating just the most recent quarter of data, we see the SAAR trend minimizes the data. Unadjusted residential investment for the second quarter was $67.9 billion. This is up 25% from the previous quarter, and a record high. The seasonal adjustment is flattening the quarterly trend significantly. 

Housing Investment Represents A Record Share Of Canada’s GDP

Residential investment’s share of the economy is falling, according to the SAAR trend. It represented 10.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Q2 2021, down from 10.3% in the previous quarter. The previous quarter is the record share, so the indicator is just a little below that. 

Canadian Residential Investment As A Share Of GDP

Canadian residential investment expressed as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Unadjusted quarterly investment actually shows it was a record share of the economy. Residential investment reached 11.2% of GDP in Q2 2021, up from 9.5% the previous quarter. This is contrary to the SAAR trend, which shows slowing growth. In the most recent quarter, it might actually be the exact opposite of what people have been saying. Canada became even more dependent, without smoothing the trend.

Seasonally adjusted data for residential investment shows it’s slowing. This is especially true when compared to the general economy, when seasonally adjusted. Unadjusted quarterly data shows residential investment is actually accelerating though. It might be a seasonal blip, but seasons have meant less and less for housing throughout the pandemic.

Housing prices in this Ontario city are absolutely booming

Sean Davidson

CTV News Toronto Multi-Platform Writer
Published Friday, September 10, 2021

Housing prices surging in this Ontario city

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People selling homes in one Ontario city are scoring big as housing prices surge.





TORONTO -- People selling homes in one Ontario city are scoring big as housing prices surge to record levels.

The median price for a home in Brantford, located about 110 kilometres south-west of Toronto, has skyrocketed more than 40 per cent over past year, figures show.

In July 2021, the median price for a Brantford home was $777,026.

The average price of a detached home in Toronto is currently about $1.7 million, meaning that in Brantford, you could save one million dollars.

One real estate expert thinks COVID-19 is playing a bit part in the booming market.



"I think people took a moment to reflect and see what was important to them," Remax Broker Judy Lillico, who has worked in the area for 21 years, told CTV News Toronto.

"Sitting in a 600-square-foot condo was not as appealing as getting a two-storey three-bedroom detached home with a yard at a much better price point."

While the Brantford housing prices may seem like a steal to Toronto buyers, Mayor Kevin Davis said there is a big downside to these escalating prices.

"If you're young family trying to get into the housing market, it becomes difficult for looking families to buy a home in their own city," Davis said.

Lillico believes some out-of-town buyers may have second thoughts down the road.



"My guess is some people are going to choose to go back when COVID is over and some will decide this is the life for them," Lillico said..

For people who are eventually forced back into the office, living in Brantford will make for a long daily commute to Toronto.

With files from CTV News Toronto's John Musselman.

Chinese-controlled company fights Ottawa's order to divest assets on security grounds

Author of the article:
Canadian Press
Jim Bronskill
Publishing date:Sep 11, 2021 • 

In this file photo taken on Dec. 5, 2017, shows Canadian and Chinese flags taken prior to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and China's President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. 

PHOTO BY FRED DUFOUR /POOL/AFP via Getty Images

OTTAWA — The Liberal government has directed a state-owned Chinese telecommunications firm to divest its stake in a Canadian subsidiary over national security concerns, prompting a court challenge of the order.

China Mobile International Canada is asking the Federal Court to set aside the recent decision, saying the government has no grounds to believe the company would compromise security or engage in espionage on behalf of Beijing.

CMI Canada says the Trudeau government was motivated, at least in part, by “the current political socioeconomic climate and the general biases against Chinese state-owned companies.”

The case unfolds amid high tensions between Ottawa and Beijing over China’s prolonged detention of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for alleged spying.

China’s actions against Spavor and Kovrig are widely seen in the West as retaliation for the late 2018 arrest by Canadian authorities of Meng Wanzhou, an executive with Chinese firm Huawei Technologies, so she can be extradited to the U.S. to face fraud charges.

CMI Canada’s application filed this week in Federal Court reveals details of an investment screening case that has quietly unfolded outside the public eye over the last year.

The company, established in 2015, provides mobile communication services, including prepaid call plans, but does not itself own or operate any telecommunications network facilities. Instead, it has partnered with Telus Communications Inc. for provision of wireless services through the Telus network.

CMI Canada says it inadvertently neglected to inform the federal government of its presence as a new Canadian business until October of last year. A series of requests for information from federal officials soon followed.

The Investment Canada Act and the National Security Review of Investments Regulations allow the federal government to scrutinize an investment in Canada by a foreign enterprise.

In January, the government informed CMI Canada of a review on security grounds, saying the investment could result in the Canadian business being leveraged by the Chinese state “for non-commercial purposes, such as the compromise of critical infrastructure and foreign interference, to the detriment of Canada’s national security.”

Following additional information exchanges, the government issued an Aug. 9 order directing China Mobile to either divest itself entirely of or wind up the Canadian business within 90 days.

CMI Canada contends the conclusion was “tantamount to speculation about what the Canadian business may do,” such as using its supposed access to sensitive information for “military applications or espionage.”


The company argues Ottawa could not reasonably have concluded, based on the information available, that the investment would be harmful to Canada’s national security.

It says the company does not own nor operate any transmission facilities in Canada, lacks privileged or direct access to any critical infrastructure, and does not have access to any sensitive telecommunications data or personal information, other than basic contact details.

CMI Canada is asking the court to quash the federal decision or, in the alternative, to send the matter back to the government for reconsideration. It also wants the order put on hold pending outcome of the case and any appeals.

If the decision is not stayed, the company will be forced to leave “the Canadian landscape entirely. This would require the termination of its client base and operations,” the application says.

The federal government has not yet filed a response and no date has been set for a hearing.

 

Slovakian parliament bans foreign waste services

09 September 2021

Processing radioactive waste or used fuel from other countries has been banned in Slovakia, after a parliamentary resolution yesterday. The move will force the closure of a business unit of JAVYS, potentially leading to job losses once ongoing work is completed.

A shipment of radioactive resins and sludges leaves Italy for Slovakia in 2020 (Image: Sogin)

The ban was imposed by way of a resolution to amend the Environment Act of 1992. It "explicitly prohibits activities related to radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel which does not originate in Slovakia," parliamentary documents said. Furthermore, it places any such activities "in the context of pollution and environmental damage."

The original motion was raised by national council members Jaromír Šíbl, Boris Kollár, Alexandra Pivkova and Anna Zemanova, who sought to "contribute to the reduction of the burden and endangerment of the environment and at the same time to the prevention of the emergence of health risks." Without identifying specific risks or environmental harm stemming from current practices, their motion proposed to minimise any potential risk by completely banning the import of radioactive waste materials into the country

A resolution to accept the motion was passed by majority and will be officially communicated by Prime Minister Eduard Heger to President Zuzana Čaputová. It is effective retrospectively from 1 September but does not impact contracts made before that date.

Parliamentary documents said that impact on business was not considered as it would only prohibit future work, but Slovakian decommissioning specialist JAVYS has previously warned that this outcome would threaten jobs.

JAVYS undertakes radioactive waste processing for Slovakian and overseas clients. It currently has four contracts with Sogin of Italy to process a total of 865 tons of low-level radioactive material from the shut-down Caorso nuclear power plant. The work and the return of the materials are scheduled to be complete by 2023.

The company's CEO, Pavol Štuller, wrote in a staff magazine on 6 August that JAVYS had abandoned efforts to secure new contracts and a ban would "significantly affect the company's management." He warned, "I cannot rule out that it will also affect employment."

Transport authority change

Other changes to Slovakia's Environment Act in the same resolution have transferred competency for permitting the transport of radioactive material from the Ministry of Transport and Construction to the Public Health Office, which already has a leading role in radiation protection. The government said this would be a more coherent arrangement and more in line with other countries.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Young Slovenian Obama scholar spearheads the fight for water and equal rights

With a campaign against Slovenia's Water Act, activist and Obama Scholar Nika Kovac stopped her homeland's waters from being privatized. She also fights prejudice and campaigns for equal rights in several other areas.



Slovenian activist Nika Kovac campaigns on many fronts

Sunday, July 11, was a typical summer's day in Slovenia, with temperatures hovering just below 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). In the evening, as a storm brewed over the capital, Ljubljana, Nika Kovac, the leader of the campaign against the Water Act, was listening to the first unofficial results of the referendum.

"The most important thing we have done with this referendum is to show politicians that we matter. We are here: Be afraid of us, because we are watching you, and we will continue to do so," she said.

More than 680,000 people – some 86.75% of all eligible voters – voted against the Water Act proposed by the Slovenian government, which opponents claimed would have permitted construction projects close to rivers, lakes and the sea.

Nika Kovac on Slovenia's "Water referendum"

At 46.46%, turnout was one of the highest ever in a Slovenian referendum. This is especially significant considering that the referendum took place in the middle of summer and, according to activist Nika Kovac, the authorities strongly opposed the campaign and did everything they could to ensure the referendum would not count.

The campaigners faced considerable opposition; they were even the target of a physical attack that forced them to move offices. To ensure her safety, Kovac took taxis home at night. But the activists were not deterred and resolutely resisted what they felt were the authorities' lies: "Whatever the government announced, we checked the same day," says Kovac.

Activist and Obama scholar

Just recently, the Obama Foundation announced that Nika Kovac is among its fourth cohort of Obama scholars, one of 24 selected from around the world. She has also been selected for the Obama Foundation's Leaders: Europe program.

Anthropologist Nika Kovac was born in 1993. She belongs to a generation that has no experience of life in the former Yugoslavia and is not nostalgic about Slovenia's process of gaining independence.

For a better life now and in the future

"The past bores us," she says. "We are not interested in [Slovenian Prime Minister] Janez Jansa with his constant return to the themes of half-past history. He seems to us like an old man who is already a little alienated from everything that is reality. The youth cares only about how they will live in the future and how they can live better today."

This is one reason why Kovac became a founding member of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism after the anti-austerity protests of 2012 in Slovenia. But she didn't stay in politics for long: "I believed that a party could be established that is at the same time a movement, working in the field, talking to people, pushing for some change, and then I was disappointed," she says. As far as she is concerned, the party moved away from that goal.

Slovenia slipping down global gender gap rankings

She then founded the Research Institute of 8th March in response to an unsuccessful campaign to obtain equal rights for same-sex partnerships. The institute wants to connect people and voice criticism of inequality through the prism of gender. Its founders chose the name because March 8 is International Women's Day.

According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2021, Slovenia has slipped five places to 41st place in the global gender gap rankings. "In Slovenia, the poorest group of inhabitants are poor pensioners," says Kovac, adding that at the same time, poverty is also evident in the younger generation.
Women alone cannot change the world

Kovac is a big critic of quotas as a solution to gender inequality. "I am convinced that nothing helps if a company has the same number of men and women on the board while exploiting third-world workers," she says.

At the same time, she feels that feminism always reflects the state of society and that there are many different ways for everyone to be a part of it. "There are also boys in our institute who are fighting for a better world. We women will not change the world alone," she says.

Campaigning on affirmative sexual consent

On February 8, 2018, the Research Institute of 8th March published its first story about sexual harassment and violence, heralding the start of the Slovenian #metoo (#jaztudi) campaign. So far, the institute has published the stories of more than 300 students, pensioners and others. It also analyzed existing legislation and found weaknesses in the system. A campaign was launched on the "only yes means yes" concept of consent.

In February 2021, Slovenian actress Mia Skrbinac revealed on TV Slovenia that she had been a victim of sexual harassment while studying at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television and highlighted the need for zero tolerance of all violence in society. The next day, the Research Institute of 8th March started collecting signatures for the amendment of the Criminal Code.

It succeeded, and on June 4, 2021, the parliament unanimously passed the amendment based on the "only yes means yes" concept. "For the first time, I had the feeling that there is one common value in Slovenia and that is sexual integrity." says Kovac.
Death threats for activism

Inspired by the stories of brave and rebellious women in history, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Frida Kahlo, Marie Curie and Rosa Parks, Kovac wrote a book entitled Brave Girls in which she focuses on women from Slovenia and elsewhere who worked hard to change the world. Although she is the director of the institute, Kovac always emphasizes its importance as a collective.

In her latest book, My Decision, she uses the life stories of women who have had an abortion experience to examine prejudice about abortion. "In Slovenia, abortion is economically accessible, but there is not much information about what happens to you during the process," she says.

Nika Kovac has received death threats for her activism. She says that although she is sometimes afraid, she doesn't want to give in to fear. For her, activism is a way of life: "It seems to me that this is the kind of fear that you feed the most by giving in to it. It seems to me that the most you can do is to keep fighting."

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