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The currency's decline is having a pronounced effect on Canadians' grocery bills. As Bloomberg reminds us, Canada imports around 80% of its fresh fruits and vegetables. When the loonie slides, prices for those good soar. "With lower-income households tending to spend a larger portion of income on food, this side effect of a soft currency brings them the most acute stress," Bloomberg continues. Of course with the layoffs piling up, you can expect more households to fall into the "lower-income" category where they will have to struggle to afford things like $3 cucumbers, $8 cauliflower, and $15 Frosted Flakes. Have...

Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. said a $300-million joint venture deal with a South Korean firm to develop light oil plays in west-central Alberta is off, as the unnamed company was not able to meet the closing conditions by the May 31 deadline. In the past few years, Canadian oil and gas companies have increasingly come to rely on investment from fast-growing Asia, particularly in the form of joint venture partnerships. More recently, however, a number of planned deals in the energy sector have failed to materialize amid concerns about project returns, volatile oil prices and congestion in pipelines that transport Alberta...

MELTDOWN COMING: Canada Is Bleeding Private Sector Jobs, And Its Housing Market Is Tanking Mike "Mish" Shedlock, Global Economic Trend AnalysisNov. 4, 2012, 5:19 PMThe Financial Post has an interesting story on the state of the Canadian jobs market. It seem over 100% of job growth is from government jobs. Please consider Employment numbers hide the fact Canada is bleeding private sector jobs Canada may have added 1,800 jobs in October, but that number hides the fact that almost all the gains came from government and that the private sector lost more than 20,000 jobs. The 1,800 jobs added was...

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada is declaring the recession essentially over in Canada and projecting the economy will bounce back at least twice as strongly as in the United States. The bank said Thursday it estimates the Canadian economy will advance by 1.3% during the current July-September period, and 3% in the fourth quarter, both at annualized rates. The bank’s quarterly monetary policy report contains many cautions about how the world and Canada is coming out of the deepest and most painful downturn since the Second World War. The bank remains concerned that the fragile financial systems in the...