Mayor’s Townhall with Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger

Topics include LRT, Small Businesses, Budget and more.

GUEST: Elliot Tepper, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Carleton University

he Canadian economy sprinted to the finish line of 2020 with nearly double-digit growth in the fourth quarter, ending its worst year on record on a strong note that has continued into the start of 2021.

The economy grew at an annualized rate of 9.6 per cent over the last three months of 2020, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday, down from an annualized growth rate of 40.6 per cent in the third quarter when the country fully emerged from the near-shutdown last spring.

Despite the better-than-expected result for the quarter as a whole, growth slowed in December with a 0.1 per cent increase for the month, which followed a 0.8 per cent increase in November.

GUEST: Peter Hall, Vice President and Chief Economist with Export Development Canada

The pandemic has only amplified the importance of marrying good science to good policy, planning and implementation. Canada needs to match the U.S.’s support of science.

A good start would be to finish what was outlined in the Canadian government’s own commissioned Fundamental Science Report. Full support, rather than half-measures, is required, including further increases in funding to make us more competitive on the world stage.

GUEST: Mark Lautens, Chemistry Professor with the University of Toronto and contributor to the Globe and Mail