Getting Closer To Year-End

We are starting to get closer to the end of 2016 and to start off the New Year 2017. I don't have any specific reasons for saying this but it just seems to me that people are in a much better mood this year than in the past few years. This could well be because the unemployment rate has dropped significantly in this area in the same time as last year. I just keep hoping that it continues to drop although it just seemed to increase a little bit in the last time frame:

"Windsor’s unemployment jumped slightly last month but continues to be better than the provincial and national average, says Statistics Canada.

According to the most recent labour force survey, the November unemployment rate in Windsor was 5.7 per cent — up slightly from 5.3 per cent in October.

The Ontario average was 6.4 per cent in November and 6.6 per cent in October.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 per cent from seven per cent in October." (Dylan Kristy, Windsor Star, December 2, 2016)

I've seen some interesting news stories over the past little while and thought that I would let you know about some of them.

MILLIONAIRES DOING WELL IN CANADA

Instead of being unemployed, it appears that many Canadians are starting to become millionaires! Now isn't that something nice to accomplish in this country. Here are some interesting statistics for you to take a look at:

"Credit Suisse global wealth ranking says there are 1.1 million Canadians worth $1M US

About 25,000 Canadians became millionaires in the past year, but more than 500,000 more can expect to fall into that category in the next five years, according to a report released Friday by Credit Suisse.

In its seventh annual report on global wealth levels, the Swiss Bank said there are currently 1,117,000 millionaires in Canada, which the bank defines as someone worth $1 million US when you add up all assets and subtract debts.

That means Canada is home to about three per cent of all of the world's millionaires — eighth overall on a list that's very top heavy as the U.S. is home to 41 per cent of them." (CBC, November 26, 2016) 

Unfortunately, the article did not tell us how people made so much money or where they work to do so.  I wonder if those numbers have gotten worse because of the problems in the oil industry where so many people have lost their jobs.  Presumably, we will find that out a year from now.

WILL WE START SEEING MORE TOLL ROADS

I'm afraid that the answer will be "Yes." There is no doubt in my mind that Governments who have the power over roads will start imposing tolls on them. Billions of dollars will be needed not only to build new ones but to keep on repairing the older ones. Toll money will help in doing so.

We in Windsor/Detroit already have "international" toll roads for traveling between the 2 countries. The Detroit River Tunnel Road is under the River while the other, the Ambassador Bridge, was built over the River. Who knows, although I doubt it, we may well get another border crossing over the River at a cost of around $4 billion or more if a new bridge is ever allowed to be built. I can't imagine what the "tolls" would be for that border crossing!

I expect that if certain action is taken in Toronto then we can expect to see tolls on many roadways that have been built or which may well be built subsequently in Canada. Here is a very interesting article that I saw in a recent media presentation on the subject:

"Toronto tolls may pave the way for road pricing in Metro Vancouver

With the idea of tolls now on the table in Toronto, it may provide the push some politicians have been looking for to introduce road pricing in Metro Vancouver.

“I think many regions around the world are looking to variable pricing for the transportation system, including roads, based on peak demand,” says Lawrence Frank, a sustainable transportation professor at the University of British Columbia. “Variable road pricing real time information is now possible, we have the technology to do it, and we should get on it.”

In Toronto, Mayor John Tory announced the city is planning to impose tolls on two major highways to pay for transportation improvements and help ease congestion, thought to be the first in Canada on expressways cutting through a downtown core." (Mike Lloyd, News 1130, November 25, 2016)

I have to admit that I was shocked that so many people in Toronto are supposedly in favour in having tolls for the roads in Toronto. I just could not believe it:

"Toronto divided on road tolls, poll finds

How polarizing is the idea of tolling Toronto’s roads? According to a new poll, the city’s electorate is split right down the middle on the issue.

The poll by Forum Research Inc. was conducted on Thursday evening, hours after Mayor John Tory threw his support behind a controversial plan to implement road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

It found that 46 per cent of voters approve of road tolls, while 45 per cent disapprove. Nine per cent didn’t know." (Ben Spurr, Toronto Star Nov. 26, 2016)

I found these statistics quite interesting but not surprising either:

"Support for road tolls was lowest among respondents making less than $20,000 a year, 50 per cent of whom disapproved of the idea. It had majority support (56 per cent) among those earning incomes between $40,000 and $60,000, as well as the wealthiest respondents."

Here's something else that did not surprise me and makes me question the introduction to the story that suggests that drivers are in favour of tolls:

"Perhaps unsurprisingly, 60 per cent of voters who use a private vehicle to commute said they disapproved of tolls. Half of those who commute by public transit supported the idea, while 81 per cent of those who bike and 63 per cent of those who walk supported the plan."

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next little while.

WHAT IS POVERTY COSTING US

I am not sure that anyone really knows how much money it costs to help those who are suffering in poverty. The number of people involved is so extremely high as well. There are all kinds of costs that are being paid by Governments to help out those people who require assistance. Here is one story that you may find interesting which helps explain what those costs include:

"Poverty is costing Toronto an estimated $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion a year, according to a new report released Monday.

The Cost of Poverty in Toronto, a report by social policy expert John Stapleton and research consultants Alexa Briggs and Celia Lee, says the numbers reflect the cost of lost opportunity. The report itself examines what the authors call the price of inaction.

"These numbers estimate what poverty costs Toronto in the justice system, the health system, and tax revenues, both now and in future generations," the report says.

 "They tell us that inaction comes at a cost...

It notes that people living in poverty pay less in taxes, are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, consume more services, have higher health costs, incur costs related to the justice system and are more likely to have children who will live in poverty as adults." (CBC News November 28, 2016) 

The way that they arrive at the numbers is very interesting:

"The report's authors say they arrived at the $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion figure by adding individual items that include:

--cost of crime at $436 million;

--cost of public health at $730 million;

--hospital days at $23.7 million;

--lost income at $2.9 billion to $4 billion;

--foregone taxes at $322 million to $345 million."

Another interesting number that I saw in a Toronto Star article on the subject that is quite startling to me is that 265,000 families are living on low incomes in that area.  

TORONTO IS CHANGING TOO

So you think that Toronto is struggling with so many families living in low income, right. If so, are you ever wrong at least with respect to this story. Many people who live there will no longer own their premises:

"If Toronto & Vancouver Are ‘Superstar Cities,' Get Ready To Rent

Home ownership is a big deal in Canada, but as housing becomes more scarce and expensive in Toronto and Vancouver, many residents of those cities will give up dreams of homeownership — whether by choice or not.

In fact, a decade from now, the stigma surrounding renting will have disappeared in Toronto, says Paul Smetanin, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis...

But in these “superstar” cities, land prices have either moved far out of range of affordability for regular earners, or have always been out of range, and in today’s hot real estate markets, renting is becoming more common.

The home ownership rate in London, for example, is just half the rate in Toronto — 36.4 per cent. (It peaked about 15 years ago, at around 42 per cent.)...

“We’re really talking about giving people the choice between being able to rent a beautiful home or being able to buy one,” he added. “It’s a very different model to the one we’re used to.” (Daniel Tencer The Huffington Post Canada November 29, 2016)