A new paper by BMO economist Doug Porter seems to confirm the Ontario premier’s claim that the oil industry is partly to blame for the decline in the manufacturing sector.
Porter says a main trigger for the loonie’s surge from 62 cents US in 2002 to parity today was wealth flooding into Canada from exports like oil.
He says that triggered a 22 percent contraction in manufacturing, with 500 thousand jobs lost nationwide.
While the resource sector is creating jobs, Porter says it can’t create enough to offset the losses in manufacturing.
Published March 2, 2012
