TORONTO - Canada's richest one per cent are taking more of the gains from economic growth than ever before in recorded history, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The Rise of Canada's Richest one per cent looks at income trends over the past 90 years and reveals the 246,000 privileged few who rank among the country's richest one per cent took almost a third (32 per cent) of all growth in incomes between 1997 and 2007.
Tepid GDP numbers released Tuesday by Statistics Canada confirm that Canada's economic recovery, such as it was, is sliding completely into the ditch. We're clearly heading for stagnation at best, and quite possibly another "double dip" downturn.
The headline number was disappointing, to say the least. Real GDP grew only 2 per cent (annualized) in the spring quarter. That's just a hair faster than the U.S. economy (which everyone knows is still deeply in the soup). Two per cent doesn't keep up with population and productivity -- implying higher unemployment ahead, not lower. Typically, at this stage of recovery, the economy should be growing three times faster.
Vancouver- and Barcelona-based filmmaker Claudia Medina recently screened the short documentary "Life After Growth" which she co-directed with Leah Temper, at the De-Growth Conference in Vancouver. Medina spoke to Am Johal over the phone from her hometown of Powell River, B.C.
Am Johal: I was at a conference a while back where a few economists were speaking about the economic collapse. After they spoke, I couldn't believe the anger generated toward them. A lot of people just said, ‘why should we listen to you people anymore?' There also seems to be a rising chorus of people looking at GDP as an outdated economic indicator in the context of climate change. What's your take on that?
Statistics Canada released the third-quarter GDP numbers yesterday, and on the surface they seem pretty upbeat, considering all the doom and gloom lately. Headline real GDP grew at an annualized 3.5 per cent rate. I predicted a few weeks back that there was no chance that the 3Q number would be negative (thus sparing us a "technical recession," on the tails of the GDP contraction in the second quarter). But I certainly didn't expect a number that strong.
For someone paid to be optimistic, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was remarkably sombre in last week's speech to the Canadian Club in Toronto, warning about the impact of financial uncertainty on an already shaky recovery. He concluded with a tried-and-true conservative analogy, suggesting that, in turbulent times, government should imitate households and live within their means.
During a crisis, the manager of a household's finances must "make difficult choices to put your family's finances on a structurally stronger footing," Mr. Flaherty said, suggesting that finance ministers do the same. "You figure out a way to restrain your spending and ... reduce your debt."
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