In 2021, nothing was different, but everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic dragged on. The Omicron variant caused a surge in cases, accompanied by now-familiar restrictions and guidance to limit travel, protect seniors and work from home. The same could have been said this week last year, substituting Delta for Omicron. This time, though, there is not the same hope that vaccination will end the pandemic and begin a new normal, whatever new normal might be.
Lots happened in the past year. Vaccines were approved in late 2020, and mass vaccination gave Canada one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Proof-of-vaccination certificates were developed and deployed to balance risks to public health against…
On the calendar, 2021 is all but over. Yet come midnight Friday, the year will still feel unfinished. Notwithstanding vaccines and better knowledge about avoiding and treating COVID, the virus’ resurgence threatens more damaging lockdowns. A federal election billed as the most important since 1945 settled nothing. 2021’s economic numbers featured frothy consumption, housing and government spending, but far too little of the capital investment needed for sustained prosperity in 2022 and beyond.
The federal government’s economic policies provide stark examples of formal closure to the year but too much important work deferred. Several items — the inflation framework, the finance minister’s fall update, the release of the public…
On Monday the Bank of Canada and Government of Canada finally announced the renewal of their agreement concerning the country’s monetary policy framework. The announcement reconfirmed their joint commitment to the two per cent inflation target within a band of one to three per cent. With the current agreement expiring at the end of the month, the down-to-the-wire announcement had led some pundits to expect a major surprise, and even in the follow-up coverage there are hints some believe this is what happened. We do not see it that way – which is good. The Bank’s mandate remains essentially unchanged from the last renewal, and from renewals all the way back to 1995 when the two per cent inflation target was first implemented. Extending…
