Paul Martin's Business Update - September 30th, 2014

We wind up the third quarter of the year with another economic report pointing to a tougher year for this province. The big change is agriculture.

We had a bumper crop last year, the biggest in history, and it pushed up our numbers significantly. This year’s return to more normal or sub-optimal growing conditions means we are going to see significantly lower growth. This according to the latest update from RBC Royal Bank.

But, the bank says, the downturn will be short-lived. It expects to rebound back into second place among the provinces next year behind perennial leader Alberta.

The bank’s economics unit is forecasting growth of 1.3 percent for this calendar year, down from 4.5 per cent last year. While we have to remember that this is still growth on top of what was a stellar year, it does sound a bit anemic and puts in third from the bottom among the provinces this year.

The bank expects job creation will track the slowdown in the economy this year and will improve modestly in 2015, although will not match their forecasted expansion of three percentage points.

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