WHAT IS THE GIG ECONOMY? A gig, by definition, is a temporary job. The gig economy is characterized by people working as independent contractors or freelancers­ or in short-term contracts, possibly for more than one employer. It’s a shift from the traditional trend of the employer-employee relationship towards one defined by independent workers and self-management. […]

The Canadian economy seems to be ganging-up on the Bank of Canada as it tries to wrestle inflation back to 2.0%. The latest employment numbers, once again, came in well above expectations.  Statistics Canada reports 35,000 jobs were created in March, nearly triple what had been forecast.  As a result of the on-going demand from […]

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show the country’s economy continues to chug along despite very deliberate efforts to slow it down. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which measures the total value of all goods and services produced by the economy, rose by 0.5% in January.  Early indications are it was up by another 0.3% in […]

Instability persists in the Canadian housing market, but analysts say there are signs things may start to normalize in the coming months. The Canadian Real Estate Association reports that February home sales fell 40% compared to their peak in February of last year, just before the Bank of Canada started raising its trend-setting Policy Rate.  […]

The Bank of Canada has stepped to the sidelines bringing an end to a 12-month string of interest rate increases that pushed its trend-setting Policy Rate from 0.25% to 4.50%.  The question now is: How long will the Bank stay on the sidelines? Right now, there are plenty of market watchers who expect the BoC […]

The Bank of Canada kept its policy rate unchanged on Wednesday, a decision that marked the first time in over 12 months that the central bank has not announced a fresh rate hike. Having indicated in January that a 25-basis-point increase to start the year likely marked the end of its rising-rate trajectory for now, […]

Statistics Canada released the real gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the final quarter of 2022 this morning, showing a marked slowdown in economic activity. This will undoubtedly keep the central bank on the sidelines when they announce their decision on March 8. The Bank had estimated the Q4 growth rate to be 1.3%. Instead, […]

The current wave of economic uncertainty does not seem to be drowning Canadians’ optimism about the housing market. The annual Canadian Real Estate Industry Trends Report from Re/Max suggests nearly one-third (32%) of Canadian home buyers and sellers have a positive sense that the market could become more balanced this year. There are, of course, […]

Canada’s annual rate of inflation fell to 5.9% in January, a higher drop than expected as yearly price growth continued to slow. Statistics Canada said on Tuesday that prices were up by 4.9% without taking into account increases in the cost of food and gasoline, although mortgage interest costs saw a huge spike of 21.2% […]

The latest piece of hard economic data has market watchers looking to see how the Bank of Canada will react. The January employment numbers show the economy added a stunning 150,000 jobs.  That is 10-times what was forecast and is the second out-sized reading in a row.  December saw a downwardly revised total of 69,000 […]