Amid massive population increases and rampant spending, the Canadian economy still shed jobs.
As I’ve pointed out before, the Trudeau government has sought to substitute population increases and government spending for real productivity gains.
Their plan to ‘grow’ the economy relies on simply filling the country up with a growing mass of people, with little regard for our per capita income and standard of living. This has been combined with significant deficit spending and higher taxes/regulations that dissuade private sector growth.
This is why the government continues to point to things like overall GDP and month-to-month job numbers to claim Canada is growing, while individual Canadians feel like things are getting worse.
Both are technically true. Canada’s economy is ‘growing,’ but it’s growing because there are more people in the country, not because our personal circumstances are improving. Additionally, when you bring in a million people a year, you would expect to see a raw month-to-month increase in job numbers.
So, that’s why it’s quite notable that the Canadian economy shed over 17,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate also rose to 5.2% from 5.0%.
Economists had estimated job gains of 21,300.
Declining poll numbers tell the story
Yesterday, I wrote about a recent Angus Reid poll showing the Liberals struggling to hold on to their 2021 support. The Liberals trail the Conservatives by 8 points nationwide, and just two thirds of 2021 Liberal voters say they’re voting for the party now.
A growing number of Canadians also say they are struggling economically, and those who are struggling the most have been shifting their support away from the Liberals and towards the Conservatives.
And so, while these job losses may be a notable statistical indication the economy isn’t faring well, Canadians have known that for a long time.
Spencer Fernando
