Erik Hertzberg

While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Erik Hertzberg.

An Election Like No Other Promises to Damage Canada's Finances

An Election Like No Other Promises to Damage Canada's Finances

Canada’s fiscal position is set to worsen as the country’s two leading political parties vie to win an election by promising tax cuts and measures to protect industries from US President Donald Trump’s tariff barrage.

Canada's Election Hinges on Who Can Fix an Economy Under US Threat

Canada's Election Hinges on Who Can Fix an Economy Under US Threat

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to plunge Canada into an election campaign on Sunday, as US President Donald Trump’s trade war sharpens the focus on fixing long-standing problems that have hindered the Canadian economy.

Small business optimism in Canada collapses to 25-year low

Small business optimism in Canada collapses to 25-year low

Optimism among Canada’s small and medium-sized firms fell to the lowest level in at least a quarter-century after the US started a trade war with the country, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The CFIB’s Business Barometer index fell to 25 this month, according to a flash poll of 1,065 firms taken between March 5 and March 7...

Trump Tariffs to Drive Canada Into Recession, Cause Price Spike

Trump Tariffs to Drive Canada Into Recession, Cause Price Spike

Canada’s economy is headed for a contraction — the first since the Covid-19 crisis — if a tariff war with its largest trading partner lasts for long.

Macklem Says ‘Not the Time’ to Rethink 2% Inflation Target

Macklem Says ‘Not the Time’ to Rethink 2% Inflation Target

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem launched the central bank’s review of its framework, but strongly suggested that officials are likely to re-endorse the bank’s current approach to targeting 2% inflation.

Bank of Canada Adds Second Outsider to Rate-Setting Council

Bank of Canada Adds Second Outsider to Rate-Setting Council

The Ottawa-based central bank announced that Alexopoulos, a professor of economics at the University of Toronto, would join the bank’s governing council for a two-year term starting March 17. She joins the policymaking body as the second external deputy governor.

Canada's soft landing in jeopardy as Bank of Canada's Macklem faces Trump tariffs

Canada's soft landing in jeopardy as Bank of Canada's Macklem faces Trump tariffs

Governor Tiff Macklem has successfully wrestled down one of the worst inflationary crises in the Bank of Canada’s history, putting his nation on track for a soft landing. U.S. president-elect Donald Trump may dismantle all that with a stroke of a pen.

Canada Under Pressure to Respond to Trump’s Tax Cut Regime

Canada Under Pressure to Respond to Trump’s Tax Cut Regime

Donald Trump’s planned tax cuts would wipe out Canada’s slim corporate tax advantage, likely driving more capital from the northern nation and deepening its productivity crisis. Canada’s federal corporate income tax rate is 15%, compared to 21% in the US. After accounting for provincial and state levies, the two countries are roughly similar, with the corporate rate between 25% and...

Foreign Investment Into Canada Steadied Ahead of Trump Election

Foreign Investment Into Canada Steadied Ahead of Trump Election

Foreign direct investment into Canada remained steady in the third quarter, an encouraging sign that businesses continued to park capital in the northern nation even as uncertainty mounted ahead of the US election. FDI totaled C$27.1 billion ($19.3 billion) in the three months between July and September, Statistics Canada reported Thursday from Ottawa, driven by merger and acquisition activity and...

Trudeau Reopens Spending Playbook, Shaking Up Bets for Rates, Growth

Trudeau Reopens Spending Playbook, Shaking Up Bets for Rates, Growth

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signaled a return to his free-spending playbook as inflation wanes and an election looms, accelerating a bond selloff due to expectations of faster growth and a deeper deficit.Most Read from Bloomberg

Trudeau Government Has Likely Blown Fiscal Anchor, Watchdog Says

Trudeau Government Has Likely Blown Fiscal Anchor, Watchdog Says

Canada’s budgetary watchdog says Justin Trudeau’s government has likely blown past a self-imposed fiscal guardrail, and is warning about the consequences of delaying the release of final spending and revenue numbers. Yves Giroux, the country’s parliamentary budget officer, expects the federal government ran a deficit of C$46.8 billion in 2023-24. That’s deeper than the C$40 billion forecast by Finance Minister...

Bank of Canada Warns of ‘Tinkering’ With Mortgage Rules

Bank of Canada Warns of ‘Tinkering’ With Mortgage Rules

The Bank of Canada’s second in command cautioned against “tinkering too much with the mortgage market” to fix housing affordability. Canada’s high home prices are primarily a function of a supply and demand imbalance, and the fix “will take time,” Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said Wednesday in Toronto. While she said she was encouraged by “governments at all levels”...

Bank of Canada in Position to Accelerate Rate Cuts: Decision Guide

Bank of Canada in Position to Accelerate Rate Cuts: Decision Guide

The Bank of Canada is likely to make a jumbo cut to interest rates, acknowledging that borrowing costs should fall more quickly as inflation wanes and economic growth stagnates. Markets and economists expect policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem will cut the policy rate by half a percentage point to 3.75% on Wednesday, the first reduction of that magnitude since...

Former Bank of Canada Official Sees Jumbo Rate Cut in October

Former Bank of Canada Official Sees Jumbo Rate Cut in October

An ex-member of the Bank of Canada’s governing body said officials should cut borrowing costs by half a percentage point later this month. There are “good reasons” to move interest rates “back to as close to neutral as quickly as possible,” former Deputy Governor Paul Beaudry said, including boosting household and business optimism. Now that policymakers are more sure that...

Poloz Hears Proposals for New Fund to Pull Canada’s Pension Managers Back Home

Poloz Hears Proposals for New Fund to Pull Canada’s Pension Managers Back Home

Former Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is examining a list of ideas to get the country’s pension funds to invest more in the domestic economy – including the creation of a pooled fund that would make dealmaking easier for some of them. People in the industry have also told him the government may need to change regulations for pension...

Canada Yield Curve Disinverts With Fed and Macklem Eyeing Cuts

Canada Yield Curve Disinverts With Fed and Macklem Eyeing Cuts

Canada’s benchmark two-year yield briefly dropped below the 10-year for the first time in more than two years, as traders looked ahead to Federal Reserve cuts and Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem made dovish comments to the Financial Times.

Bank of Canada Seen Cutting Rates Deeper, Faster Over Next Year

Bank of Canada Seen Cutting Rates Deeper, Faster Over Next Year

Economists see the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates for a third consecutive meeting next week, continuing what’s anticipated to be a steady downward trend in borrowing costs over the next year as inflation eases.

Trudeau's Tax Hikes Risk Worsening Canada's Struggle for Capital

Trudeau's Tax Hikes Risk Worsening Canada's Struggle for Capital

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has turned to raising taxes on businesses to help fund Canada’s budget, adding headwinds to an economy that’s already struggling to attract investment.

CIBC says Bank of Canada must end or fix quantitative tightening

CIBC says Bank of Canada must end or fix quantitative tightening

The Bank of Canada needs to wrap up its quantitative tightening program or fix distortions in short-term funding markets that are keeping effective interest rates higher, according to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce strategists. Canada’s central bank has been shrinking its balance sheet for more than two years, withdrawing the extraordinary stimulus it provided during the Covid-19 crisis. Assets have...

Tory leader widens gap over Trudeau on economy in Canada poll

Tory leader widens gap over Trudeau on economy in Canada poll

The leader of Canada’s Conservative Party has opened up a bigger lead among voters on the question of who would be the best economic manager, underscoring the political challenges faced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. About 30% of respondents in a recent Nanos Research Group survey for Bloomberg say they trust Pierre Poilievre the most among national party leaders to...

Bank of Canada to Explain Its Pandemic Actions as Political Tides Shift

Bank of Canada to Explain Its Pandemic Actions as Political Tides Shift

The Bank of Canada is doing a formal review of its pandemic-era policies, when it bought hundreds of billions in government bonds to suppress interest rates. It may represent a last chance for Governor Tiff Macklem to explain himself before one of his fiercest critics comes to power.

Bank of Canada Defends Bond Buying, Guidance During Pandemic

Bank of Canada Defends Bond Buying, Guidance During Pandemic

A Bank of Canada official defended the use of quantitative easing and extraordinary forward guidance during the pandemic, pushing back on criticisms that the policy actions were missteps that fueled inflation.

Trudeau's spring budget has Canadian firms worried about new taxes

Trudeau's spring budget has Canadian firms worried about new taxes

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s upcoming budget has some in Canada’s business community concerned there will be tax increases to offset new government spending. Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will almost certainly bring in a package of tools to boost housing supply in the April 16 budget, according to people familiar with the government’s plans, and may commit additional spending...

Immigration surprises are making the Bank of Canada's job harder

Immigration surprises are making the Bank of Canada's job harder

Record-breaking immigration is muddying the economic picture for the Bank of Canada, distorting key statistics and making its battle against inflation more difficult.A surge of newcomers – largely driven by an unplanned spike in foreign students and temporary workers – has pushed Canada’s population growth rate to 3.2 per cent, one of the fastest in the world.