Newfoundland and Labrador are the places to be right now, as they’re expected to lead in economic growth for 2013 and 2014!
During our mini-series on provincial debt, we saw that Newfoundland and Labrador was in trouble. Seeing a huge decline in one of their main resources – fishing – in the early part of the new millennium meant that the province fell into pretty deep debt. They didn’t have the population growth to support them alone, and those who already lived in the province usually went out West to make more money than they could on the most Eastern coast.
But back then, we said that things were going to turn around for this Maritime province and that by 2014 they’d be back in the black. Now they’re not only there, but they’re expected to lead the growth of all provinces for this year and next.
It was the Conference Board of Canada last week that said that Newfoundland and Labrador would be leading provincial growth for the remainder of 2013, and all of 2014. But it’s not fishing that’s making this happen, it’s oil! Oil production in the province is expected to jump by more than 12 per cent during this year, which will increase their overall growth by 6.1 per cent.
That’s well above the national average that the country as a whole is set to see, with the national average sitting at 1.8 per cent. But it’s also much more than other provinces are expected to see too.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are all expected to see more growth than the national average, with growth expected to be at 3.1 per cent, 3.8 per cent, and 2.3 per cent respectively, according to the Conference Board. However, they still caution that these growth levels may never come to fruition because of falling commodity prices. Also, if the plans for the pipeline are ever held up, that would also significantly affect the growth for these provinces.
And not everyone is going to to go over the average for national economic growth. B.C. is expected to see only 1.6 per cent of growth, because of the lack of new jobs in the province and their heavily overheated housing market that’s currently going through a massive cooling down period.
Ontario and Quebec are also expected to see a drop in growth, with the Conference Board predicting only 1.4 per cent of growth for both of these provinces.
