Canada Ping!
Posted on 04/24/2013 10:28:33 AM PDT by Squawk 8888
Think the Canadian manufacturing industry is on the endangered-species list? Not according to the companies operating in the sector.
A full two-thirds of Canadian manufacturers surveyed recently by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers said they're optimistic about their business growth prospects over the next year and a half.
In fact, most expect to see a modest to significant rise in sales.
Perhaps buoyed by this bullish outlook, these manufacturers also plan to open their wallets. A significant majority of respondents—84%—intend to either maintain or increase their purchasing budgets in 2013. And three-quarters plan to make equipment purchases in the year to come (though their budgets to do so range significantly, from less than $50,000 to more than $5 million).
Furthermore, relatively few manufacturers are concerned about cross-border competitiveness: only one-in-four respondents are worried about the effects of a high Canadian dollar on their business.
In a statement, spokesperson Julie Pike, who manages the Society's Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show, is "extremely encouraged" by the findings, noting that they correlate nicely with a recent Statistics Canada report that revealed a manufacturing sales uptick in eight provinces (led by Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick).
All this doesn't mean manufacturing is all wine and roses. Four-in-10 survey respondents are concerned about a shortage of skilled workers in the sector. Nearly the same percentage is fretting about rising production costs. Some 32% are worried about the need to invest in new equipment and technology. And roughly the same number cite serious workforce productivity concerns.
A total of 431 people answered the survey, representing a range of manufacturers in the automotive, energy, aerospace, fabricated metal and machinery sectors, among others.
Canada Ping!
Gee, do you think dropping their corporate tax rates had anything to do with this?
Please add me too!
Good for them - I’ve traveled through B.C. and the Yukon quite a bit and love the people. Great beer and sausage, too.
The bacon ain't so hot though. ;-) And try driving through Quebec as I do on occasion.They speak some obscure language there and if you try to speak a civilized one they give ya dirty looks.
Me too...but they're still ticked about Gretzky...
Banff and the Lake Louise area are beautiful.
They lowered their Corporate taxes to 18%.
yep!
amazing how that works
I've driven through that area...just across the tunnel from Detroit.Windsor I think the city is called.But given that Detroit is dying thanks to the UAW one would think that Windsor isn't doing so well either.But I could be wrong...I'm no expert on things Canadian.
Done- welcome aboard!
Not much in consumer goods, but lots of industrial supplies. Traditionally our strengths have been telecom, transport and aerospace (the lunar lander was built at the Canadair plant in Montréal).
Windsor has had some lean times, but never a Democrat council. Most of the auto-related manufacturing in the area supplies assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio, Windsor, Cambridge, Oakville, Alliston and Oshawa. A significant percentage of Toyota, Honda and Detroit Three vehicles sold in North America are built in Southern Ontario.
Ontario builds more vehicles than Michigan does, but don’t tell anybody. Every Chrysler minivan built is made in Windsor.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers recently counted 255 companies based in Ontario among suppliers to the oil sands.
The province enjoys the lion’s share of oil-sands benefits outside Alberta. Between 2010 and 2035, Ontario is expected to see $63-billion in economic spinoffs and 65,520 oil-sands-related jobs, according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute.
Natural resourses. The latest.
The Ring of Fire is the name given to an area in the James Bay Lowlands located in Northern Ontario. The Freewest Black Thor chromite prospect has an estimated an estimated 72 megatonnes of chromite ore.
The Ring of Fire is thought to hold as much as $50-billion worth of minerals ,,nickel, copper and platinum and is going to be North America’s first major source of chromite, used in the making of stainless steel.
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