Economic downturn

[Graeme]

Canada is a country of commodities, we sell our wood, oil, gas, copper, gold, lumber, coal, agricultural products etc. all over the world. We're here to sell whatever we have to whomever will buy it. Unfortunately the downturn in the Chinese economy directly inmpacts us, if they don't want to buy our commodities then we stand around waiting for the next buyer. The Chinese devaluation made what we sell even more expensive for them to buy, fortunately our weak dollar makes our stuff slightly more attractive to the world. There are currently lay-offs in the oil and gas industry due to the low oil prices, there are lay offs in the lumber industry as no-one wants to buy our wood, coal and gas production numbers are falling a little too. This ends up creating problems in the transportation industry as there are fewer trucks carrying fewer products, the shops have fewer buyers and people realising things are tight hang on to their pennies. The reticence to purchase drives the market down a bit more and slowly Canada is entering a recession.
So, if you are thinking about emmigrating to Canada, think carefully. Is your chosen life in an area which is recession proof? If not, can you get any assurances from your prospective employer? If no assurances be very careful. Even if they do give assurances just be aware businesses fail and often it's a last minute thing leaving their employees in a bind. I'm not trying to be a kill joy here but if you plan to move to Canada make sure you do your homework. I'm sure the economy will pick up as we're closely linked to the USA economy and it is starting to move along nicely, but we are a commodity driven economy and currently things are a bit tight.
Graeme

[Kay]

Excellent posting, thanks, Graeme. And a salutary warning to would-be immigrants. It would also make a good article for the main BE website, so it can reach a wider audience. (Hint. )

I wonder what other countries might be affected in the same way.