The economic downturn, whether or not it is an official recession, is creating a jobs crisis in Canada. In December 2001, the Canadian unemployment rate hit 8 per cent – the highest it’s been for three years.

During the past year, Canada has lost 20,000 full-time jobs as employment has fallen in trade, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing. It is estimated that the automobile industry lost 15,000 jobs in 2000 with another 15,000 likely to be axed this year. Ford Motor Co announced it will be closing the Oakville truck plant at a cost of 1500 more full-time manufacturing jobs. General Motors had already announced the closure of its Ste. –Therese plant in Quebec by September, resulting in the loss of another 1500 jobs lost.

CAW President Buzz Hargrove accused Ford of increasing production at its Mexico truck operation and preserving United States operations despite the fact that they are less efficient than the Ontario facility.

The only job growth in 2000 has been in the accommodation and food services sector and other service industries where 45,000 part-time jobs were added.

Alberta’s unemployment rate rose in December despite a booming construction industry. Unemployment in Alberta rose to 5.1% dropping Alberta to second place in national employment rates – behind Manitoba, which had a December unemployment rate of 4.7%.

Most forecasters expect unemployment to remain at or above 8% for at least the first half of 2002, as demand from the U.S. manufacturing sector remains depressed and raw materials prices fail to recover.

The government, which has been carefully avoiding the R word (recession), has been quick to point out the unexpectedly strong automobile and electronic/computers sales in November and December as signs of a recovering economy.

The Toronto Dominion Bank’s economics section, however, points out that many of these sales were a result of extremely attractive ‘zero financing’ offers by manufacturers, and that this may well mean lower than expected sales later in the year.

The Recession Watch, published by the Bank, flatly states that "In Canada, evidence is mounting that a full-blown recession is underway", and predicts that neither the U.S. nor Canadian economies have bottomed out yet.

This is a far cry from statements by Bank of Canada Governor, David Dodge, who seems more concerned with inflation (expected to be less than 2% in 2002) than with stimulating the economy to promote growth and employment.

No one yet seems to be asking governments what they intend to do about the looming unemployment crisis – and in fact the federal government seems to be hoping the problem will go away if they pretend it doesn’t exist.