Friday, April 21, 2006

He is Still One of the Best!!

What can I say?? Mulroney is, arguably, one of the best public speaker in the world, and one of the best PMs that Canada ever had!!

You can watch the speech here.

His speech has a lot of substance, and is fun to watch!!

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POSTED AT 5:38 AM EDT ON 21/04/06

'Engage the Americans,' vintage Mulroney lectures

Fete accompli: Political Ottawa salutes its greenest prime minister

From Friday's Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Former prime minister Brian Mulroney told an audience of past and present Conservatives -- including Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- that lecturing the Americans about their environmental record is not the way to solve global warming.

In a veiled attack last night on former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin and his criticism during the federal election campaign of the Americans' failure to sign on to the Kyoto accord, Mr. Mulroney offered three ways to succeed on the environmental front:

He said the government must lead by example and "not by slogan," it must "engage the Americans at the highest levels of government" and it also must involve industry.

The former prime minister said "there are few durable solutions on the environment on any other international issue without the engagement of the United States and the leadership of its president."

And Mr. Mulroney complimented Mr. Harper for the relationship he has established with the Bush administration, saying that the Prime Minister is "off to a good start."

It was a vintage performance by Mr. Mulroney, who was being honoured at the annual Earth Week Gala Dinner by a left-of-centre magazine, Corporate Knights, for being Canada's greenest prime minister.

He joked, laughed, and told old war stories, then delivered a thoughtful speech on his environmental legacy, looking ahead to what the Harper government could achieve.

By the end, he had the crowd eating out of his hand.

"Where political will prevails, solutions will follow," he said.

Mr. Mulroney emphasized the importance of the relationship Canada has with the United States, a relationship that many believe was damaged during the Martin government.

Tanned from the Florida sun and looking well after a brush with death last year, the distinctive baritone voice strong and the gleam back in his eye, the former Conservative prime minister, now 67, spoke for only the second time in the capital since leaving office in 1993.

It was a night the likes of which political Ottawa has not seen since the early 90s. The Château Laurier hotel, the scene of much political intrigue in the past, was teeming with past and present Tories -- the Mulroney era ran smack into the Harper crowd.

It was also one of the first nights in the capital since the Harper Conservatives took office in January that truly signified the Tories were back in town with a vengeance.

Few Liberals, with the exception of former deputy prime minister Sheila Copps and former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy, who is considering a run for the Liberal leadership, were at the dinner. Both were at the head table, and Mr. Kennedy looked very comfortable there, as the guest of comedian Rick Mercer. Mr. Mercer helped to introduce Mr. Mulroney.

And a cast of political and environmental heavyweights did the honouring of Mr. Mulroney, including Stephen Harper, Quebec Premier Jean Charest, an emotional Elizabeth May of the Sierra Club, and his son, Ben Mulroney of CTV's Canadian Idol and eTalk Daily.

The current American ambassador, David Wilkins, and former ambassador James Blanchard also attended.

Mr. Mulroney received several sustained standing ovations from the crowd of 308 people, and was even credited by a tearful Ms. May, who wandered off the environmental track, for saving the life of South African hero and human-rights activist Nelson Mandela.

Mr. Mulroney was one of the Commonwealth leaders at the forefront of the charge against apartheid.

Mr. Harper credited Mr. Mulroney with helping behind the scenes with the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party.

He also said that Mr. Mulroney played a "private" but "indispensable" role as a friend and political confidant. He joked that it's a lonely job being a Conservative leader and even lonelier as a Conservative prime minister.

Mr. Charest, who served as an environment minister in the Mulroney cabinet, praised him for his legacy and his help.

He also spoke of Mr. Mulroney's ability to keep his caucus together in both good and bad times, telling an emotional story about a tribute Mr. Mulroney made to the late Stan Darling for his efforts on the environmental front.

© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

What is the Full Employment Rate in Canada?

Is it 6%? Or 5%?? Or even lower?? In BC, the latest unemployment rate is at 4.9%. It is even lower in Alberta.

What is the Bank going to do? Let the unemployment rate to go lower? Or try to retain things at 6%?

Sorry for the short posts lately. But things are getting a bit busy for the last little while.

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POSTED AT 5:28 PM EDT ON 19/04/06

How soon full employment?

Globe and Mail Update

Imagine a scenario where every single Canadian who wants to work can find a job, a situation where unemployment is essentially eradicated.

BMO Nesbitt Burns explored the notion in a preliminary note from an upcoming report, examining whether the commodity-driven jobs boom in Western Canada has already led to full employment in Canada.

“There really can be little debate now that Western Canada is already experiencing the closest thing to full employment in over three decades, with the jobless rate west of Ontario just barely above 4 per cent,” chief economist Douglas Porter wrote the note.

The jobs bonanza in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan is particularly impressive because it is boosting the entire country, Mr. Porter said, noting that the unemployment rate has dropped in every province since the recovery began in 2002.

The national unemployment rate fell to a 32-year low of 6.3 per cent in March, according to Statistics Canada data released earlier this month. Employers added 50,500 jobs that month, more than twice as many as economists had predicted.

Over the past year, the number of jobs across the country has increased an astounding 330,000 or 2.1 per cent. As has been the case for months, the increase was driven by the red-hot Alberta job market.

The job creation juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down. Job growth has picked up in the last six months, hiring intentions remain robust, and the Bank of Canada hardly seems poised to try to stamp out the expansion, Mr. Porter said.

“As recently as the late 1980's, the Bank believed that the natural rate of unemployment in Canada was about 8 per cent, but employment insurance reforms, a more mature labour force and changing union priorities have clearly altered the landscape,” he said.

“Full employment, or the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) may now be 6 per cent, or possibly lower, and it appears that Canada will soon test these thresholds.”

For one thing, Statistics Canada's survey of manufacturers found that barely one-tenth of all firms are reporting labour shortages as a constraint on production, the report said. In addition, there has been a gradual upward drift in wages as the jobless rate has careened lower over the last few years.

These factors suggest that “Canada's already low-low jobless rate appears poised to fall even further in the year ahead,” Mr. Porter said.

“As the rate drills through the 6 per cent threshold and tests the new level of full employment, wage pressures will build, fanning out from Western Canada,” he said. The wage inflation pressures will be offset by weakness in manufacturing jobs and steady public sector wage increases.

© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Monday, April 10, 2006

CD Howe Institute is One Step Ahead of Me!!