Economy
Historic decline in Canadian living standards continues into 2024
From the Fraser Institute
By Grady Munro and Jake Fuss
Statistics Canada on Friday released its estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2024, and once again while the Canadian economy is technically growing, the living standards of Canadians themselves are continuing to fall.
The new numbers reveal that inflation-adjusted GDP—the final value of all goods and services produced in the economy and the most widely used measure of overall economic activity—grew by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2024. But at the same time, inflation-adjusted GDP per person—a broad measure of individual living standards—actually fell 0.2 per cent during the first quarter of 2024, down to $58,028.
This apparent disconnect between overall economic growth and individual living standards is the result of Canada’s changing population. The reason the economy is growing while living standards are falling is because the rate of economic growth is not fast enough to account for all the new people in Canada (whether through birth or immigration). During the first three months of 2024, the economy grew by 0.4 per cent while the population grew by 0.6 per cent.
A single quarter of declining per-person GDP is not particularly concerning in and of itself, but unfortunately for Canadians, these new data are simply the latest evidence of a prolonged decline in individual living standards.
A recent study measured inflation-adjusted per-person GDP over the last 40 years (1985 to 2023) and found that from the middle of 2019 (well before COVID) to the end of 2023, per-person GDP fell from $59,905 to $58,134. This 3.0 per cent drop over four and a half years was the second-longest and third-deepest decline in living standards over the entire period—only exceeded in both length and depth by the more than five-year decline that began mid-1989 and lasted until living standards recovered in the third quarter of 1994, and which saw inflation-adjusted GDP per person fall by 5.3 per cent.
If we factor in the new data for the beginning of 2024, we see that the current ongoing decline is worsening. Inflation-adjusted per-person GDP now sits 3.1 per cent below the level it was in mid-2019, and the decline is approaching five-years in length. In other words, Canada is approaching the milestone of experiencing the longest decline in individual living standards of the last 40 years.
Weak economic growth combined with a fast-growing population over the last several years have resulted in Canadians experiencing a marked and prolonged decrease in living standards. With new data showing no sign of improvement, Canadians and governments across the country should realize that the status quo cannot continue.
Authors:
Bjorn Lomborg
The stupidity of Net Zero | Bjorn Lomborg on how climate alarmism leads to economic crisis
From spiked on YouTube
Note: This interview is focused on Europe and the UK. It very much applies to Canada. The 2025 Federal Election which will see Canadians choose between a more common sense approach, and spending the next 4 years continuing down the path of pursuing “The Stupidity of Net Zero”.
European industry is in freefall, and Net Zero is to blame.
Here, climate economist Bjorn Lomborg – author of Best Things First and False Alarm – explains how panic over climate change is doing far more damage than climate change itself. Swapping cheap and dependable fossil fuels for unreliable and expensive renewables costs our economies trillions, but for little environmental gain, Lomborg says.
Plus, he tackles the myth of the ‘climate apocalypse’ and explains why there are more polar bears than ever.
Support spiked: https://www.spiked-online.com/support/
Sign up to spiked’s newsletters: https://www.spiked-online.com/newslet…
Business
Scott Bessent Says Trump’s Goal Was Always To Get Trading Partners To Table After Major Pause Announcement
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told reporters Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s goal was to have major trading partners agree to negotiate after Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for many countries after dozens reached out to the administration.
Trump announced the pause via a Wednesday post on Truth Social that also announced substantial increases in tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States, saying 75 countries had asked to talk. Bessent said during a press event held alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that Trump had obtained “maximum leverage” to get trading partners to negotiate with the April 2 announcement of reciprocal tariffs.
“This was his strategy all along,” Bessent told reporters during an impromptu press conference at the White House. “And that, you know, you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They, they responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors. And, and we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate. It wasn’t a hard message: Don’t retaliate, things will turn out well.”
Dear Readers:
As a nonprofit, we are dependent on the generosity of our readers.
Please consider making a small donation of any amount here.
Thank you!
WATCH:
China imposed retaliatory tariffs on American exports to the communist country Wednesday, imposing an 84% tariff on U.S. goods after Trump responded to a 34% tariff by taking American tariffs to 104%.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump said. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
“They kept escalating and escalating, and now they have 125% tariffs that will be effective immediately,” Bessent said during the press conference.
Bessent said that China’s actions would not harm the United States as much as it would their own economy.
“We will see what China does,” Bessent said. “But what I am certain of, what I’m certain of, is that what China is doing will affect their economy much more than it will ours, because they have an export-driven, flood the world with cheap export model, and the rest of the world now understands.”
The Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 2,962.86 points Wednesday, with the NASDAQ climbing by 1,755.84 points and the S&P 500 rising 446.05 points, according to FoxBusiness.
Poilievre To Create ‘Canada First’ National Energy Corridor
Trump Takes More Action To Get Government Out Of LNG’s Way
Mainstream Media Election Coverage: If the Election Was a NHL Game, the Ice Would be Constantly Tilted Up and to the Left
Selective reporting on measles outbreaks is a globalist smear campaign against Trump administration.
The book the carbon taxers don’t want you to read
FREE MARINE LE PEN!’: Trump defends French populist against ‘lawfare’ charges
Jury verdict against oil industry worries critics, could drive up energy costs
-
2025 Federal Election20 hours agoResearchers Link China’s Intelligence and Elite Influence Arms to B.C. Government, Liberal Party, and Trudeau-Appointed Senator
-
2025 Federal Election2 days agoCommunist China helped boost Mark Carney’s image on social media, election watchdog reports
-
2025 Federal Election1 day agoRCMP memo warns of Chinese interference on Canadian university campuses to affect election
-
2025 Federal Election2 days agoFifty Shades of Mark Carney
-
Justice2 days agoCanadian government sued for forcing women to share spaces with ‘transgender’ male prisoners
-
Alberta2 days agoAlberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care
-
Energy2 days agoTrump signs four executive orders promoting coal industry
-
2025 Federal Election2 days agoConservative Party urges investigation into Carney plan to spend $1 billion on heat pumps