[HeatherAtHome]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but I did a search and didn't really find much.

I'm wondering how the Canadian Economy is doing. I don't think we're going through as much as the US and other countries, but we do have problems. We are tied so closely to the American economy that we can't get through this untouched.

How is the economy overall? Housing market? Jobs? Gov't programs holding up? (I don't really watch the news.)

I found this on the Chris Martenson site. Had a really good blog bookmarked but now I can't find it.

Any links to good Canadian info?

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I am laid off. I lost my job due to lack of work. The company I worked for was bought out by an American company 10 years ago. So, when the US side was failing this fall, they started shifting our work down there.

DH works for a Japanese owned company. (welder; makes parts for pulp and paper mills). The company has a factory on each continent, so the one DH works for ships across Canada & to the USA. They went through a slow down around Christmas and have laid off 1/10th of their employees. DH was near the edge but didn't lose his job and now they're starting to bring back employees. Summer is their busy season.

We are looking to buy a house soon.... have heard that most areas of Quebec, the housing prices didn't jump very high so they won't be going down as far. From what I can tell, our local market slowed a little, but houses are still selling. I *am* noticing more houses for sale, sometimes many on each street. Most of them are the pricier ones, and looks like people are holding on to their little houses.

Basically.... For DH and I, even though I lost my job, we're doing much better financially. We decided over a year ago to cut way back on expenses (I moved in with my parents and DH rented a room near his work. About 60km apart.) We've been on this roller coaster ride before with being laid off so it doesn't feel like anything new.

 

[Dillpicklechip]

I think overall things are really uneven in Canada.

Out West, it's okay, but around here (southern Ontario) it's very, very bad.

I live in Windsor, which is quickly becoming a ghost town. SO many people have lost their jobs in the past five years, it's mind boggling. Our house is worth only 2/3 of what it used to be a few years ago.

Many of the people from around here have gone out West, and done well for themselves.

Can't post more now...later.

 

[mtm]

I'm in Toronto and haven't seen any direct impact yet although a coworker of dh's quit one job for another then got laid off after a year and can't find new work. I think autoworkers and loggers/pulp and paper workers are the first wave of job loss and others will follow but I think it will be less than the US. Our banks have handled mortgages differently which helps.

 

[Village Mama]

We are in BC. Housing starts are almost non existent where we live right now compared to 150 house starts per month last year. This is not good news for the trades. We will just have to see ! There was an article in the paper that cited that the unemployment rate amongst men is up 3 times what it was last year. Things begin to trickle down fast as well... people arent spending and then businesses are on the verge of failing because of it.
It seems like the media is positive about the economy one day, then the next it is all failing. I am nervous. We live in a smaller community so there aren't a ton of jobs up here in the first place. Things can go badly pretty fast! Thank goodness for the food growing season!

 

[she]

I'm on the east coast, and it's not great. Mind you, we've never had a really strong economy to start with

These unemployment numbers don't shock me at all.

Dh works for a satellite company and it's really slow. He had a few days without any work, and is home early a lot. This coincides with the usual slow season, so it may pick up next month. I can hope.

I WAH, but I don't have much these days. I'm shopping around for some new contracts to fill the gaps.

 

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I'm in a northern BC forestry town. We've had 2 or our 3 mills shut down in the last year. This started before the credit collaps and was more related to the softwood lumber disagreements. Of course with no one building houses in the uS or in Canada for that matter there isn't a big market for wood.

There was also a mine that was supposed to be starting up this summer north of here that would have brought a lot of jobs and money to town. It's now on hold as the developers can no longer get the loans they need to start up because of the global credit crisis.

Dh works for the government and I work for the library. Both of our jobs are as secure as they can be in this economy but it's still scary seeing what is happening to our friends and neighbors.

 

[the_lissa]

I'm in a manufacturing city, and a lot of factories are temporarily or permanently closed. Our real estate market is actually good. New builds are down, but sales are decent, prices are stable, etc. We don't have the real estate, mortgage, and foreclosure issues that the U.S. has.

 

[HeatherAtHome]

Thanks for the reports!

It just seems that this depression/recession finds it's way into so much of the American media. It's not just on the evening news anymore, it's on 20/20, Oprah, wherever. You just get a sense that it affects every single person in some way or another, that you can't get away from it. And that if it hasn't affected you yet, then it will very soon. (Run! Buy gold! Worry! Fear!)

I was wondering if we have the same type of media coverage in Canada or if they're fairly optimistic (and realistic) about the future?

Sure I'm laid off due to lack of work, but that has happened often enough to DH and I in the past.

I also wonder if maybe part of it is that we didn't live in a very "huge" way in the past so we didn't really have far to fall? Make sense? (*When I say "we", I mean DH and I)

 

[Village Mama]

It is all over the media here too. I am a CBC radio listener, which is the Canadian public radio station. Everytime I hear the words" tough economic times" I want to scream. It gets really depressing and frightening to hear about it all. of. the. time. I am all for taking media breaks once in a while!

 

[Carlin]

I'm in Alberta, and things are not good here. Housing prices have dropped (mind you they were very high before,) unemployment is rising rapidly, and many of our big employers are shutting things down until Oil prices recover. Unfortunately, food prices and rent don't seem to have dropped along with employment which is going to be tough on a lot of people.

Our economy here is so tied to the petroleum industry that the trickle down from that is effecting everyone. My DH will be laid off at the end of the month and he's not having an easy time finding something else. He's a dual ticket, experienced tradesman too, so it's not just unskilled workers being affected either.

In general things probably aren't too bad yet, but if the job loss rates we've seen every month continue, we are going to have some problems. The boom is over, and our province didn't do anything over the last decade to plan for this possibility.

 

[HeatherAtHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Village Mama It is all over the media here too. I am a CBC radio listener, which is the Canadian public radio station. Everytime I hear the words" tough economic times" I want to scream. It gets really depressing and frightening to hear about it all. of. the. time. I am all for taking media breaks once in a while!

Yeah, I don't watch a lot of tv, it's all bad news.

So here's the blog I found before, I finally remembered the name! The guys a bit of a downer. I definately didn't want to hear this:

Quote:

Those rushing to buy a house because rates have crashed and prices have declined 15% or 20% will do much better in a year - lower prices and still cheap mortgages. Those young buyers gobbling up homes because loans are so cheap are gambling with their futures. Real estate will not have appreciated much (if at all) in five years, while mortgage costs could have doubled. This is how a home becomes a wealth trap.

Maybe he's talking about Southern Ontario, BC, Alberta etc? I don't see it where I live. I'm looking for a home, not an investment.

 

[mandib50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlin I'm in Alberta, and things are not good here. Housing prices have dropped (mind you they were very high before,) unemployment is rising rapidly, and many of our big employers are shutting things down until Oil prices recover. Unfortunately, food prices and rent don't seem to have dropped along with employment which is going to be tough on a lot of people. Our economy here is so tied to the petroleum industry that the trickle down from that is effecting everyone. My DH will be laid off at the end of the month and he's not having an easy time finding something else. He's a dual ticket, experienced tradesman too, so it's not just unskilled workers being affected either. In general things probably aren't too bad yet, but if the job loss rates we've seen every month continue, we are going to have some problems. The boom is over, and our province didn't do anything over the last decade to plan for this possibility.

sorry to hear about your DH

. i was going to say i'm in alberta too but where i live we really haven't felt anything different. housing has really slowed down, which is a good thing because it is so overinflated. town has quieted down some, i think that work has been slowing down some in the oil patch around here. i hear mixed things ... dh works for an oil company and his job is fine, they just hired 50 guys for his crew (200 guys altogether). it seems like the contractors took the biggest hit where he works.

 

[Baby Makes 4]

After 10 years of working towards our goal of being homeowners we finally bought our fist home in January 2008. Now, 15 months later it is worth at least $50,000 less than we paid for it. We were hoping to live here for a couple of years and then sell it and use our equity to move up to a better house but that all depended on the housing prices continuing to increase.

:

Oh well. What can you do?

 

[Kyamo]

We're in Toronto, and we live in a townhouse which has a lot of similar units in the development, so I can see the theoretical value of our house fairly well. I think its worth about the same as we paid for it (in June 07).

I have had some hours cut at work and a raise delayed/cancelled, and I'm still with 3 part time jobs and no luck on full-time, almost a year since I graduated. DH thinks his job is ok, but I know some people have been laid off in other departments.

 

[Zan&Zav]

Cape Breton NS here, and it's bad

 

[Poddi]

I've heard about a lot of layoffs, but haven't seen too much difference in town. (Greater Vancouver) The shopping malls are packed, people buying all sorts of things. We went to get some Easter stuff and they were all gone almost everywhere, including high-end stores. Housing prices dropped a bit around here, not too much yet, I'd say about 5%. Maybe because it's such a big city it's not as easily affected as small towns.

 

[HeatherAtHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poddi . Maybe because it's such a big city it's not as easily affected as small towns.

I was thinking maybe we're not affected as much because we're small town, not a big city.

I don't know, just that after everything that's happened, I'm not seeing that it's completely bad and desperate around here. We've had layoffs, but there are still job openings. There are still people out there shopping, shopping, shopping. People are still buying houses (but it is slower going).

I feel fine, but with all the doom and gloom going on, it's hard to make a major decision (like buying a house) and feel comfortable about it. I look at it on paper, but then you have all those doomsday people saying buying a house right now is the stupidest thing ever.

 

[HeatherAtHome]

See, this is a perfect example of what I'm talking about:

Quote:

"If all of a sudden you're now restricted to a weekend in Montreal and a couple of lattes, when you're used to having dinner out [and vacationing in] Cuba, well, you're not going to be very happy," says Mr. Jeffrey.

From here.

I feel like "they" think everyone was living the high life. I am so not that kind of person.

But this is nice:

Quote:

Under the recent federal budget, first-time buyers can qualify for a $750 tax credit to help with closing costs. In addition, they can now withdraw up to $25,000 from their RRSPs under the Home Buyers Plan to help with a down payment, up from the previous $20,000.

and this is ok:

Quote:

Mr. Jeffrey believes in the value of the real estate investment. If your job prospects are good, he says, "Relax, take a breath, be smart. If you don't need that big flat screen TV, don't buy it. But if you need a place to live, prices are down a bit, mortgage rates are stupidly low. It's not a bad time [to buy]."

 

[sanguine_speed]

We're whole hog into it. We are having a house built right now as a single-income family (more precarious some might say than a two-income situation). Interest rates are stupidly low (no way we'll have to pay over 4% on a 5-year fixed, and more likely we'll get a 2% variable through a preferred lender of our builder). We purchased our house last summer, and the price continues to rise. It's now selling for $10,000 more than we paid, and it's still selling.
We're seeing changes and job losses/pay cuts, but nothing like what i'm hearing in the US. I don't know anyone personally who has lost a house, and only one who has lost a job, and that's in a manufacturing town in SWO.

 

[LittleBlessings]

GOOD QUESTION