Can't or Won't

Actually lets be honest here Jim, you won't help, it's not that you can't help.

Ottawa urged to act on auto jobs

Can't help auto sector, Flaherty says of job cuts

After all the conservatives only believe in helping those who help themselves. A hand up not a hand out...unless it's another tax cut for business.


See:

Time For A Made In Canada Auto Industry

Unions=Competitiveness



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The Return of Keynes

Public Sector jobs are good for the Economy as the latest Stats Canada employment report shows. Something the neo-con's denied as they slashed public sector jobs in the nineties in order to offset their short term debt and deficit hysteria. Tis the ghost of J.M. Keynes returning after his premature burial.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian economy added six times more jobs than expected in October and wages climbed 4 percent on the year, limiting the Bank of Canada's options to cut interest rates any time soon.

The Canadian dollar shot up to a new historic high on the data, which showed that 63,000 jobs were created last month and that the unemployment rate fell to a 33-year low of 5.8 percent, from 5.9 percent in September.

The figures, released by Statistics Canada on Friday, showed that most of the hiring in Canada was concentrated in the public sector and services industries and was split evenly between full-time and part-time positions.

Evidence of an air-tight job market and wage growth that outpaces inflation limits the Bank of Canada's options to cut interest rates because lower rates could let inflation creep too high.

The average hourly wage grew 4.2 percent on the year for permanent employees and 4.1 percent for all workers, well above the 2.5 percent inflation in the same period.

Statscan showed that services sector employment grew by 66,000 jobs in October, led by health care and social assistance.

"It seems that all that fiscal stimulus we're seeing is translating into rising public sector payrolls, and it's just giving yet another boost to an already strong labor market," said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

In the first 10 months of 2007, employment grew by 2.1 percent, the strongest pace in five years.

The jobless rate fell from 5.9 in September to 5.8 per cent in October.

"These are spectacular job growth numbers," said Avery Shenfeld, a CIBC world markets economist.

"We'd like to see a bit more coming from the private sector. But it's hard to argue with a multi-decade low in the unemployment rate and lots of jobs coming that are going to pay incomes."

According to the latest Labour Force survey, record numbers of Canadians are holding down jobs with October's employment rate reaching an all-time high of 63.7 per cent.

From January to October, Canada's robust economy created 346,000 new jobs, representing the strongest growth for that period in five years.

"There was job loss in Canada during the last month, however, the job creation rollover was extremely strong, much stronger than we expected," BNN's Michael Kane told CTV Newsnet on Friday.

Women and older workers continue to lead the way in employment last month.

Women aged 25 and over posted a record employment rate of 59.4 per cent along with the lowest unemployment rate -- 4.3 per cent -- in more than 30 years.

Workers aged 55 and over continued to see massive gains demonstrating an all-time high participation rate of 33.9 per cent.

Employment for older workers has risen 6.9 per cent since the start of the year, driven by the participation of older women in the work force. By contrast, employment levels have risen 1.2 per cent for those aged 25 to 44 for 2007.

The service sector continued to elevate the nation's employment level with the highest gains in health care, social assistance and public administration. In October, service sector jobs increased by 66,000, representing a growth of 3.2 per cent in 2007.

See:

Time For A Made In Canada Auto Industry

Another Capitalist Myth

The ABC's of Privatizing Daycare

Unions=Competitiveness

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Actions Have Consequences

When you flip flop on an important bill of rights for workers, don't be surprised when you are held accountable by those you have betrayed. Liberals Defeat Anti Scab Law

Dion heckled off stage at Ottawa labour rally

The hecklers chanted "anti-scab, anti-scab" in reference to Dion's withdrawal of Liberal caucus support nearly three months ago for legislation banning the use of replacement workers during strikes in federally regulated industries.

HAMILTON (AM900 CHML) - A Hamilton steelworker has played a lead role, in booing Liberal Leader Stephane Dion off the stage during a big labour rally on Parliament Hill.

Dion was trying to speak to several thousand unionized workers, who turned out in Ottawa to protest job losses in the manufacturing sector.

He never finished, loudly booed off the stage as Hamilton's Jake Lombardo accused him of double-speak and held him to account for the Liberal Party's stand against anti-scab legislation.

The rally comes on the heels of the closure of Hamilton Specialty Bar, and the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in Hamilton alone over the past year.

Lombardo adding that Dion also can't escape his government's record on the issue, insisting that the Liberals did nothing while in power.

Photos courtesy of NUPGE

See;

Anti-Scab

Dion

Buzz

Gomperism

Liberals

Unions


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Inflation In Alberta

As reported in a couple of the Edmonton Sun columns by their token Left Winger (wink, wink) Neil Waugh, inflation in Alberta was up again.

The sharp jump in wages was almost matched with a 4.5% increase in consumer prices.

But it was not due to wages increasing nope, it was due to the over heated housing market, which keeps going up.

The continued strength of Alberta's energy-based economy resulted in Edmonton's housing market outperforming expectations, making it the hottest market in Canada in the quarter. During the first quarter, the price for a standard two-story house rose 54.4 percent in Edmonton and 27.4 percent in Calgary, Alberta, while the average national rise was 11.8 percent.

And considering the price of the mythical single-family dwelling has increased 16.5% in the first three months of 2007 - and now stands at $398,476 - that's either good news or bad news, depending on what side of the deal you're on.

If you'd bought or sold a year ago, the price you would have to pay has increased by an incredible 55.6% since then. Needless to say, it's a year-to-year record, as are all the other March stats the EREB keeps.

So far in 2007, board realtors have cleared $2.14 billion in sales, which is 80% higher than last year's pace. And that was hardly a recession year either.

In fact the "threat" of another huge spike in house prices has "sparked an early rush for new and resale houses," the ComFree monthly report cautioned.

Earlier this week the Calgary Real Estate Board revealed 3,939 combined residential sales in March (a new record) and the average sales price inched up 5.6% from February.

But that's a 27% year-to-year increase from last March. CREB president Ed Jensen called it an "interesting" month. No kidding, Ed.

But he also reported a 32% jump in listings over last year, which may mean that folks are trying to cash in on their windfall equity before it disappears like campfire smoke.

ComFree reports its average house price also bumped up 8% in March to $350,300.

And of course inflation is caused by those who exploit this hot housing market. Now usually when inflation increases workers wages are blamed and you can expect interest rates to climb or bosses to fight for claw backs. But when it comes to inflation caused by housing costs, well no one yet has implemented the solution; Rent controls.

But even down at the legislature last week the Alberta Tories were beginning to feel the heat over inflation.

Especially when Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason grilled Premier Ed Stelmach over when the PCs' affordable housing report will finally be released. It contains recommendations to put a clamp on soaring rental rates.

One of the province's biggest landlords, Boardwalk Real Estate Income Trust, recently gave the opposition more ammo when CEO Sam Kolias revealed in his year-end report to unit holders how he "maximized return" by responding to what he called "exceptionally strong market fundamentals.

"As occupancy tracked upward due to positive supply and demand forces," Kolias beamed, "rental rates followed suit, resulting in strong revenue growth."

And with 52% of his property portfolio right here in Boom-berta, he predicted his "proactive operating policies" would result in even greater revenue growth in 2007.

Unless, of course, the PCs implement their own report and slap on rent controls.

Meanwhile the average Albertan even with a good paying job cannot afford to buy a home,

Most Albertans think this is a bad time to buy a house -- but a good time to buy major household items. Leger Marketing surveyed 900 Alberta consumers for PricewaterhouseCoopers, in February, asking about the economy.Leger's report noted "the relatively pessimistic sentiment regarding interest rates, combined with the fact that the housing market in Alberta has boomed over the last two years."

So who is doing all the buying? Why speculators of course hoping to flip the house in the market to make money.

See:

Condos The Problem

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Banks Profit From Job Cuts

From yesterdays Globe and Mail is this update on the BMO job cuts. Just doing what the other fellas do...And as usual the job cuts are the direct result of the falling rate of profit. The greedy want more and more....

Taking actions similar to those of new CEOs when they arrived at CIBC, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Royal Bank of Canada, BMO announced it will chop 3 per cent of its 35,000-strong work force through cuts "across all support functions."

BMO's stock market performance has lagged rivals in the past year, as revenue stalled and costs rose. In contrast, CIBC stock soared in part because of newly-named CEO Gerry McCaughey's took layers of management out of the organization, trimming 950 jobs and cutting expenses by more than $250-million a year.

RBC, another stock market leader, took a $192-million charge in 2004 when CEO Gordon Nixon reworked the way the bank was run and shed 1,600 head office jobs.

Analysts also said the cuts show that in the future, the Canadian banks face increasing challenges as they try to sustain double-digit profit growth. BMO's earnings grew 11-per-cent last year, to a record $2.7-billion.

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