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| *Travel Tips>>>Montreal Travel Tips |
Why is Montreal Economically Slow compared to the rest of Canada ? |
Travel Info Why is Montreal Economically Slow compared to the rest of Canada ? Travel Tips Easy: Separatist politics. The only reason that Toronto is the economic capital of Canada instead of Montreal is because of separatists winning the provincial election in the 70s. Toronto should put a statue of Rene Levesque in front of its city hall. Large companies moved their head offices out of Montreal, hoards of people moved away rather than have their kids forcibly removed from english language education. Taxes soared as the PQ government created services that were redundant with the federal government, launched questionable social programmes, and allowed union labour to rule the province. Quebec continues to be the highest-taxed region in North America, however the economy is getting better as separatism becomes less of an issue for younger generations. Source(s): Lived it. Other Travel Tips I live in Montreal, and I have not really noticed an economic slowdown. Of course, I don't really have much to compare it to. Are we apples to apples? It would help if you gave some statistics to support your question. For example, according to Statistics Canada, "...Business investment intentions for 2007 grew the most in Central Canada, after lagging Western Canada's growth in 2006....". To me this suggests that the cities in the west are benefiting from an economic upturn. (Business investment is defined as total non-residential investment less public administration, health and education.) However, they also mentioned "...Quebec led the major provinces (in first quarter 2007) with an 8% increase in business investment plans, after trailing the national average for four years...." Another good measurement of the economy is the unemployment rate. During the period from 2000 to 2006, here are some interesting facts: - The census metropolitan area of Victoria showed the biggest improvement in unemployment rate. - The census metropolitan area of Calgary had an annual average unemployment rate of only 3.2% last year, lowest among metropolitan areas. - Labour markets in Ontario fared the worst in terms of changes in rankings. Of the 16 areas in which rankings fell over this period, 9 were in Ontario. - Of the five census metropolitan areas that recorded the largest drops in ranking between 2000 and 2006, four were in Ontario's so-called Golden Horseshoe: Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto and Windsor. The fifth was Regina. According to their released study, Montreal was indeed affected by a slowdown in the aerospace and textile industries, which we saw with the closing of Gildan as a good example. But Montreal has always been particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the textile industry, and aerospace has been severely affected by 9/11, just as the airlines, tourism, and others that depend on air travel all over North America. The bigger concern at this time in Montreal and Quebec in general is the aging population, declining birthrate, and the lack of immigration to Quebec communities. To change that, we need to be more tolerant and more welcoming to immigrants. Unfortunately, recent news stories suggest that is not happening and we can expect to continue to see a population drop until we do so. http://www.statcan.ca/daily/english/0701... Because no one likes to work I don't really know too much about Canada's economy but from what I observed, I would say that it's the socialism. According to my friends from different parts of the country, western Canada is considerably more capitalist than eastern Canada. In capitalism, there is always the incentive of more money if workers do their jobs well whereas in socialism, workers are paid roughly the same no matter how well they perform their duties. I like to think that this is why the sidewalks are not shoveled as well or as quickly in Montreal compared to some US Cities, like New York. So, I would say that in Montreal, workers are content with their jobs and the status quo. I've lived in both Montreal and the States. |
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