Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
The economy bounced back sharply in the third quarter of the year after taking a walloping in the preceding three-month stretch, in a demonstration of what may be in store as COVID-19 concerns wane and Canadians start spending anew.
Statistics Canada said Tuesday the economy grew at an annual rate of 5.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year as COVID-19 restrictions eased and household spending rose.
The result was a rebound from a contraction in the second quarter that Statistics Canada also said Tuesday was deeper than it previously reported.
Quarterly growth in household spending was one of the largest on record. Consumers spent their money at restaurants, bars, hotels and on air travel, which jumped 181.9 per cent as more travellers took to the skies.
Offsetting those soaring figures was floundering business investment and lower consumer spending on goods like cars.
TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam said growth in real domestic product could have been even stronger in the third quarter it not for global supply-chain issues.
But celebrations were quickly grounded by severe flooding in British Columbia, and concerns about a new, possibly more transmissible variant of COVID-19.
CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfled said the Omicron variant, a potential retightening of restriction and the need for booster shots could all affect the next leg of the economic recovery,
“A summer lull in COVID worries brought Canadians out to party, and their spending spree was fun while it lasted,” he wrote in a note, “but we're facing new concerns about whether a more vaccine-resistant variant could set back the timetable for further growth.”
Statistics Canada said the third quarter ended with the economy edging up by 0.1 per cent in September, as broad gains in service industries were offset by declines in manufacturing that was partly pulled down by a global shortage of semiconductor chips.
The agency also said preliminary data suggests the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in October to start the final quarter of the year, led by manufacturing.
Statistics Canada said that with that estimate, total economic activity was about 0.5 per cent below the pre-pandemic level recorded in February 2020.
Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist with Capital Economics, said the shortfall should be made up by the end of this year or early next. He also said the path for the economy should lead the Bank of Canada to raise its trendsetting interest rate by the middle of 2022.
“Certainly, we're getting to the final stages of a recovery here and starting to think about tightening (monetary) policy,” Brown said.
The federal government has already tightened its pandemic purse strings. In October, the Trudeau Liberals ended broad benefits to workers and businesses in favour of more targeted support outlined in a bill now before the House of Commons.
The parliamentary budget officer on Tuesday estimated more targeted rent support to still hurting businesses would push the overall price tag for the supplement to $8.3 billion.
In two other reports, the PBO estimated the cost of extending pandemic sickness benefits to May would cost $373.8 million, and $554 million to add extra weeks of eligibility to the federal caregiving benefit.
Statistics Canada noted that government transfers dropped in the third quarter as employee compensation rose 2.9 per cent, which was one of the largest bumps over the last two decades.
The extra spending outpaced the growth in disposable income, which dropped the savings rate to 11 per cent from 14 per cent in the second quarter. The savings rate is still well above pre-pandemic levels.
“Households are well-prepared to deal with potential challenges ahead, and there is still plenty of gas in the tank to fuel an eventual comeback in the service sector,” wrote BMO chief economist Douglas Porter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2021
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire, officials said Sunday.
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.