1 week Ago By Monica Zurowski, Calgary Herald
We’d already had our fill of depressing economic news last week before Friday’s jobless numbers dropped. Alberta shed 15,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate rose to 7.1 per cent.
Nationally, 33,000 jobs were lost — the largest decline in more than three years. A significant driver in all of this, of course, is the massive uncertainty created by tariffs and trade disruption unleashed by U.S.
President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s escalation — perversely billed as “Liberation Day” — caused all sorts of carnage, with massive losses on the stock market and significant declines in oil prices . Analysts at JPMorgan are now predicting a U.
S. recession this year, a rather ominous sign for Canada and the global economy. Clearly, none of this is good for Canada.
That’s why it was so strange and so tone deaf for Alberta’s premier to jubilantly post about a “big win” for Alberta and Canada, and to suggest that “the worst of this tariff dispute is behind us.” Unfortunately, we may just be at the beginning of seeing how bad things could get. Smith’s post came after it was clear that Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement did not include anything new imposed upon Canada , at least for now.
The tariffs already imposed against Canada remain in place, however, and it’s almost impossible to predict what the president might do next. Of course, with new tariffs levelled against essentially the entire world (Russia being a notable exception), there’s no escaping the wave of economic chaos this creates. It would take considerable effort to not see that or to try to spin it all as positive.
Smith shifted her tone somewhat the next day while speaking to a Calgary business audience, saying she doesn’t want to seem “exuberant about dodging the bullet,” and that given the “devastating” effect this will have on so many sectors, it’s “hard for me to celebrate.” Given the political dynamic of the federal election, there’s clearly a desire to move past the Trump tariffs-trade war issue and revert to the politics of just a few months ago. There’s also the fact that the premier has taken heat for her approach to this issue and would no doubt love to find some vindication.
But we can’t sugar-coat this. It’s not just Alberta offering sympathy to the auto sector or other industries or regions. Alberta won’t be spared the effect of the steel and aluminum tariffs, for example.
Moreover, given the priority Alberta has placed upon being able to develop new energy projects and infrastructure, big drops in demand and commodity prices spawned by a global economic downturn puts all of that at risk..
