Canada's losing jobs when we should be booming economically. Guess why

May brought another disappointing report about Canada’s economy, with the loss of 7,000 jobs, the third decline in five months to bring the total decline since December to 50,000. Slumping employment is consistent with a slowdown in the underlying growth rate of Canada’s GDP to less than 1.5 per cent. And this slowdown is happening in spite of rapid growth in the U.S., which has accelerated to nearly three per cent.

Canada’s economy is falling behind the U.S. on several fronts. Perhaps most striking is the difference in investment intentions for 2018. Statistics Canada found in its annual survey that firms plan to trim investment outlays this year by another one per cent, their fourth-straight annual decline. In contrast, a semi-annual survey of investment intentions in the U.S. found that firms revised up their plans to increase investment spending from a 2.7-per-cent increase just six months ago, all the way up to a 10-per-cent increase in the latest survey. The forecast of an upturn in business investment in the U.S. already is reflected in actual spending, as business investment in the first quarter was up 6.8 per cent in volume from a year earlier, nearly double the increase in the previous year.

It is not difficult to identify the reasons why business investment in the U.S. is improving faster than in Canada. The Trump administration has been unrelenting in signalling its desire to improve the business climate, from reducing regulations to sharply lowering the corporate income tax (its consistency in staying on-message in this area contrasts with its erratic communications everywhere else). Meanwhile in Canada, several jurisdictions are doing the opposite, whether by sharply raising the minimum wage in a short period or blocking the construction of pipelines that have already met all the necessary regulatory approvals.

full story at http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/philip-cross-canadas-losing-jobs-when-we-should-be-booming-economically-guess-why