In this edition:
- Canadian home sales soften again from August to September
- Contract talks between Ontario education workers, government to involve mediator
- Workers, employers call on the federal government to pay off EI program debt
- Government of Canada announces plan for new digital infrastructure initiative to strengthen supply chains
- Wholesale sales rebound, reaching record high in August
- Manufacturing sales fall for fourth consecutive month
- Small Business Month Symposium to offer resources, funding opportunities, recruitment help, and more
Canadian home sales soften again from August to September
Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales were down in September 2022.
Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems fell by 3.9% between August and September 2022. From May through August, month-over-month declines have been progressively smaller. The September result marked a slight increase in the current sales slowdown that began with the Bank of Canada’s first rate hike back in March. (Chart A)
While about 60% of all local markets saw sales fall from August to September, the national number was pulled lower by the fact markets with declines included Greater Vancouver, Calgary, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Montreal.
Contract talks between Ontario education workers, government to involve mediator
Ontario education workers such as librarians, custodians and early childhood educators have agreed to mediation with the government in contract talks that have inched toward a strike.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents about 55,000 education workers in the province, said it welcomes the assistance of a mediator.
“We want to reach a negotiated agreement that will guarantee service improvements for students, help solve school boards’ problems hiring and keeping qualified employees, and secure a significant wage increase for the lowest-paid frontline education workers that’s long overdue,” Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions, said in a written statement.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he was pleased with the development in negotiations.
“We will never waver from our belief that students must be in class for the entire school year, surrounded by their friends, learning the life and job skills that will help them catch up,” he wrote in a statement.
Workers, employers call on the federal government to pay off EI program debt
With employment insurance premiums set to rise in the new year, both employers and workers are calling on the federal government to step in and rescue the program from the considerable amount of debt it has fallen into since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program, which is financed entirely through premiums paid by workers and employers, accumulated $25.9 billion of debt by the end of 2021, according to the Office of the Chief Actuary.
The rise in debt comes after a staggering number of Canadians were unemployed during the pandemic and eligibility rules for the program were relaxed to ease access to jobless benefits.
Since then, the labour market has bounced back and temporary changes to the EI program have been reversed. However, the question that lingers is: who should pick up the tab on the accumulated debt?
Disclosure: The GNCC has lobbied for the Government of Canada to pay off the EI program debt from general revenues and to avoid transferring the burden on to employer premiums.
Government of Canada announces plan for new digital infrastructure initiative to strengthen supply chains
Today, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced the intention to launch the $136 million Advancing Industry-Driven Digitalization of Canada’s Supply Chain initiative. Funding for this initiative is made possible through Budget 2022, to develop digital solutions and optimize Canada’s supply chains.
The Minister also announced that Transport Canada will soon launch a new Call for Proposals under the National Trade Corridors Fund to support projects that strengthen Canada’s digital infrastructure to enhance the efficiency and reliability of our transportation supply chains.
The Government of Canada has established an online portal for suggestions on how it can improve its supply chain performance.
Wholesale sales rebound, reaching record high in August
Following a decline in July sales, August wholesale sales increased 1.4% and reached a new high of $81.3 billion. Growth was reported in five of the seven subsectors, representing 86% of wholesale sales. The miscellaneous goods subsector, the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector and the food, beverage and tobacco subsector led the growth for wholesale sales in August.
Sales in the miscellaneous merchant wholesalers subsector rose 3.9% to $12.8 billion in August, its fourth straight increase. Although three of the five industries in the subsector posted lower sales, the agricultural supplies industry’s growth of 13.2% to $5.2 billion offset the declines in other industries. This was the fourth consecutive increase for the industry. With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, demand for Canadian fertilizer remained strong.
Manufacturing sales fall for fourth consecutive month
Manufacturing sales fell 2.0% to $70.4 billion in August, the fourth consecutive monthly decline. There were lower sales in 17 of 21 industries, led by the petroleum and coal product (-3.9%), chemical (-4.5%), primary metal (-3.2%), paper (-5.7%) and wood product (-4.3%) industries. Meanwhile, sales of beverage and tobacco products (+5.5%) and food (+0.6%) increased the most.
Small Business Month Symposium to offer resources, funding opportunities, recruitment help, and more
Get Set for Success at the Small Business Month Symposium! On October 18th, expert speakers and panels will gather to offer solutions, tips and tricks to power the success of your small business. Get access to resources, grants, and funding, find out how to thrive in a crowded market for talent, optimize your marketing reach with an on-point social media game, and more.
Talks and panels include:
- Ways to Find Help: Elevate your talent sourcing and hiring approaches to recruit the best employees, presented by Laura Tolhoek, Essential HR
- Ways to Impress: Get customers knocking down your door – the impact of new technology on marketing and how to boost your visibility, presented by Joe Jones, Symetric
- Trends to stay on the cutting edge and better your business, presented by Tara O’Neil, SMARTLabNiagara, and Sharon Reeds, Intuitive Shipping
- Ways to Profit: How not to suck at business development and sales – keeping afloat in tough times, presented by Neil Thornton, The Thornton Group
- Ways to Comply: Don’t get fined and lose your hard-earned dollars – navigating the ever-changing changes in business legislation, presented by Marina Glencross, S&G HR Consulting
- Pass Go, Collect $200: Access to funding and resources, presented by BDC
- Ways to Fortify: Take a day off! Ensure systems are in place so your business doesn’t crumble, presented by Nikki McKnight, The Ops Shop
- Ways to Find Help: Elevate your talent sourcing and hiring approaches to recruit the best employees, presented by Erin Stephens, Oxford Human Resources
Click here for tickets and more information.
Niagara Economic Summit
Ian Hamilton on supply chains, logistics, and the challenges of keeping goods flowing in an era of disruption
As President & CEO of the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA), Ian Hamilton understands shipping, logistics, and supply chains like nobody else. A global pandemic, a war in Europe, increasing international tensions, climate change, and more are interrupting the flow of goods we took for granted, straining every part of the goods-producing sector. The prices of materials and finished products are skyrocketing and, for the first time in many of our lifetimes, we can no longer take for granted that the supplies we need will be available at all. Organizations like HOPA are working harder than ever to try and bring supplies to manufacturers and goods to market in this changing world. Learn how they do it at the Niagara Economic Summit.
On November 8th, Ian joins the Summit’s panel discussion on Boom or Bust: the future of our economy. Join us to hear his thoughts on how economic networks are being disrupted and how we can cope – and what to expect in the future.
Contact us to submit your questions for Ian in advance.
Click here for tickets to this year’s Niagara Economic Summit.
Focus on Technology
Meta rethinks the philosophy of the Facebook feed
The Facebook app, the blockbuster that powers the company we now call Meta, has been spending time in the juggernaut infirmary. While Feed is still the company’s most popular product, its user base has stopped growing, in stark contrast to that of its fierce new competitor, TikTok. In response, Meta’s leaders in July tweaked Facebook’s iconic home page. An earlier leaked memo revealed that their intent was to transform Feed from a list of posts mostly from friends into a “discovery engine” of “unconnected content” that can come from anywhere—much like the addictive feed at the heart of TikTok.
Yesterday, Facebook announced further changes to its flagship Blue App that seem like a way for Facebook to hone its discovery engine’s algorithms. Users will be able to tell Facebook if they want to see more or less of certain kinds of posts. The feedback will temporarily boost or suppress the ranking score for that kind of post. A second customization option can be used to specify how much you’d like to see posts from, respectively, friends and family, groups, and public figures. This feature is accessible from a page called Feed Preferences, which is only a moderate challenge to locate.
Click here to read more.
Post-it Notes adapt to work-from-home with Microsoft Teams app
Post-it Notes are getting a hybrid-work upgrade with a Microsoft Teams app that lets users digitize handwritten notes by holding them in front of the camera.
Maplewood, Minnesota-based 3M is partnering with Microsoft to bring a Post-it app into the virtual meeting platform, which was used by about 250 million people worldwide every month in 2021.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the new app during a customer conference Wednesday morning.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
