Focus Economics has put out their list of Top Economics and Finance Blogs for 2018 and I am pleased to report that Worthwhile Canadian Initiative is once again on the list. As our entry reads: "The
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative is a "mainly Canadian economics blog."
The blog is currently maintained by four economics professors, namely
Stephen Gordon, Frances Woolley, Nick Rowe and the Northern Economist, Livio Di Matteo.
Topics covered on the blog generally encompass macroeconomics, but also
include politics, immigration, inequality, finance and education."
Great news and congratulations to my fellow bloggers at WCI!
Here are the economic news stories that have caught my interest over the last little while in northern Ontario. The start of the new year has been a bit slow when it comes to economic news in the region but then there is so much else going one politically, economically and otherwise in Ontario, Canada and the world especially as we move into a critical phase with the NAFTA negotiations and the start of election campaigning in Ontario in the run up to the June election.
Well, this looks like a creative way to try and create some type of downtown event centre/conference facility in Thunder Bay. Of course, you can add Victoriaville as well as the empty Sears store at intercity to the list of underutilized space in Thunder Bay. Personally, it would be nice to see the Sears store retooled in a circular two level galleria space of small stores around a public space that could be used to house the farmers market. The only problem would be to find tenants for the small retail spaces given that rents at the ISC are apparently pretty steep.
The airport's economic role in the city of Thunder Bay and region continues to grow. Passenger volumes in 2017 were 844,627 which represents an increase of 4.6 percent from 2016. Since 1997, this represents an increase of over 60 percent.
In not so positive transportation news, cab fares in Thunder Bay are going up by 15 percent. They were already quite high. And if that is not enough, it looks like the increase in Thunder Bay's tax levy is going to stay at around 3.6 percent as the budget remains pretty much unchanged. Living in Thunder Bay does sometimes seem like a sort of reverse Walmart marketing jingle - pay more, get less.
On Feb. 6-7, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce will host its
inaugural PEP (Procurement, Employment and Partnerships) conference and
trade show presented by SNC Lavalin in partnership with the Canadian council for Aboriginal Business.
And of interest if you are planning to pursue resource development activities in the region North of 50....
Of course, Sault Ste. Marie is disappointed that they did not make the 20 city short list for Amazon's second corporate campus and joins other disappointed Canadian cities, but not Toronto which remains under consideration.
In North Bay, they are hoping home construction is going to jump start their economy. Not sure where the housing demand is expected to come from but it is important to be hopeful. Perhaps if Toronto gets the Amazon campus, given the cost of housing, Amazon workers will live in North Bay and commute to Toronto.
So that is what has caught my eye across this vast expanse at least economically. One other bright item of news involves this morning's decision in a Thunder Bay courtroom exonerating the Chief of Police. Great to hear. All the best.
My last
post on policing resources in the major northern Ontario cities noted that
all five cities saw an increase in policing resources. In 2000, the largest
number of police offers adjusted for population was in Thunder Bay at 171.6
(per 100,000 of population), followed by Sault Ste Marie at 156, Timmins at
153.1, North Bay at 147.6 and finally Greater Sudbury at 143.1.By 2016, Thunder Bay was still first at 199.5
officers per 100,000 of population.It
was followed by Timmins at 196.2, Sault Ste. Marie at 176.7, Greater Sudbury at
160.7 and then North Bay at 152.6.Growth
in per capita policing resources was greatest in Timmins at 28 percent,
followed by Thunder Bay which saw a 16 percent increase.Next highest growth was Sault Ste. Marie at
13 percent, followed by Greater Sudbury and North Bay at 12 and 3 percent
respectively.
Of course,
the logical question that follows next is what was going on in crime rates over
the same period of time?It should be
noted that policing is much more complex in the early 21st century
dealing not only with traditional crimes but also with new crime areas such as
cyber and internet crime.As well,
social issues in general have been consuming more police resources as well as
new standards of accountability which entail more intensive use of policing
resources when dealing with incidents. Homicide investigation is especially resource intensive. Nonetheless,
a look at crime rates it is still a useful piece of information.
Traditional
measures of the crime rate such as criminal code incidents per 100,000 of
population or per police officer measure the volume of crime.One example is the homicide rate and past
evidence has found the homicide rate declining in northern Ontario in a
manner akin to other Canadian cities with the exception of a recent surge in
Thunder Bay.Another measure of crime is
the Crime Severity Index.The Crime
Severity Index combines both volume as well as takes into consideration the
seriousness of crimes by assigning each type of offense a seriousness weight and
generally serves as a complement to other measures.The index has been set to 100 for Canada in 2006 and enables comparisons
of crime severity both at a point in time and over time.
Figure 1
plots the value of the Crime
Severity Index obtained from Statistics Canada for the five major northern
Ontario cities for the period 1998 to 2016.The severity of crime differs across these five cities in any given year
but all cities have seen a decline over time.The largest declines over time have been in Sudbury and North Bay at 36
and29 percent respectively.Next is
Thunder Bay with a 17 percent decline in crime severity between 1998 and 2016,
followed by Sault Ste. Marie at 16 percent and then Timmins at 15 percent.The good news is that while there are annual
ebbs and flows, crime rates over the long term are down in these major northern
Ontario cities.