Inflation rose 0.1% in August even with sharp drop in gas prices
Justin Trudeau attacks Pierre Poilievre as irresponsible in speech to Liberal caucus
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched a forceful attack of Pierre Poilievre Monday, describing the new Conservative Leader as an irresponsible politician who promotes reckless economic ideas.
In his first public comments since Mr. Poilievre’s decisive Saturday night leadership victory, Mr. Trudeau laid out his criticisms in an outdoor speech to the national Liberal caucus, which is gathering in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, for three days of meetings ahead of Parliament’s return.
“What Canadians need is responsible leadership,” said Mr. Trudeau. “Buzzwords, dog whistles and careless attacks don’t add up to a plan for Canadians. Attacking the institutions that make our society fair, safe and free is not responsible leadership. Telling people they can opt out of inflation by investing their savings in volatile cryptocurrencies is not responsible leadership. By the way, anyone who followed that advice would have seen their life savings destroyed.”
Mr. Trudeau was referencing comments Mr. Poilievre made in March at a leadership campaign stop, where he said cryptocurrencies “let Canadians opt-out of inflation with the ability to opt-in to cryptocurrencies.”
The value of bitcoin, the most popular form of cryptocurrency, has dropped by more than 50 per cent since Mr. Poilievre made those comments.
Mr. Trudeau spoke after Mr. Poilievre made a public speech to the Conservative caucus in Ottawa in which he urged the Liberals to pledge not to raise taxes. The Prime Minister did not directly address that request and he did not take questions from reporters after his speech.
Mr. Trudeau congratulated Mr. Poilievre on his victory and said Liberals are open to working with other parties in Parliament.
“But this doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be calling out highly questionable, reckless economic ideas,” he said.
Liberal MPs have been meeting for informal chats with various cabinet ministers and in smaller groups such as regional caucuses, as well as the full national caucus.
The Liberal caucus gathering is taking place just days before the House of Commons resumes sitting after the summer recess. Various ministers this week have signalled that the government’s fall priorities will include affordability measures aimed at lower-income Canadians, gun-control legislation and a suite of bills dealing with new regulations for the internet in areas such as promoting Canadian content and curbing hate speech.
Even though the Liberals and the NDP voted earlier this year to extend hybrid sittings adopted due to the pandemic that allow MPs to participate virtually in House of Commons debates and votes, the full Liberal caucus meetings this week are occurring without virtual options. Previous Liberal caucus meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic have included virtual participation.
While speaking with reporters, Government House Leader Mark Holland was asked why his government supports the continuation of a virtual Commons while not offering that option for its own caucus meetings.
Mr. Holland said the House of Commons committee on procedure and House affairs will be holding a study in the fall to review the hybrid system to determine what changes should be made. He said he’ll be bringing forward his own recommendations.
The Official Opposition Conservatives have been very critical of the hybrid Parliament, saying it reduces accountability by allowing ministers to appear virtually in the House of Commons or as a committee witness.
“I spent a lot of time in opposition. I am incredibly sympathetic to making sure that the mechanisms of accountability are there,” said Mr. Holland. “Now that we’re in – what I hope – is moving out of this pandemic and moving to brighter, clearer days, let’s take an opportunity to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work in this experiment.”
Mr. Holland and other Liberal MPs delivered a common criticism of Mr. Poilievre’s political style, accusing him of proposing “simplistic” solutions to complex problems.
Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski said he expects Mr. Poilievre’s support of the freedom convoy protests will limit his political appeal.
“I think a lot of Canadians are going to see him on the far right. I think a lot of his opinions are not, but he’s also catered to the far right – the kind of people that park their trucks in downtown Ottawa, the freedom convoy and that kind of people,” he said. “And I think the majority of Canadians, the many quiet Canadians, don’t agree with that.”
Dollarama Reports $193.5M Q2 Profit, Sales Up 18.2 Per Cent From Year Ago
Dollarama Inc. reported a second-quarter profit of $193.5 million, up from $146.2 million in the same quarter last year, as sales rose 18.2 per cent.
The discount retailer says the profit amounted to 66 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended July 31 compared with a profit of 48 cents per diluted share a year ago.
Sales for the three-month period totalled $1.22 billion, up from $1.03 billion a year earlier.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, gained 13.2 per cent as the number of transactions rose 20.2 per cent, but the average transaction size fell 5.8 per cent.
In its outlook, Dollarama says it expects to continue to benefit from strong demand as shoppers look to deal with inflation.
The retailer raised its comparable store sales growth assumption for its 2023 financial year to a range of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent compared with earlier expectations for between 4.0 and 5.0 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2022.
Fed’s Waller sees ‘significant’ rate hike this month, backs data-dependent approach
U.S. only days away until an ‘absolute explosion’ on inflation, says pollster Frank Luntz
Farmland Inc.
Robert Andjelic is Canada’s largest farmland owner. He sees huge potential for the agriculture sector — if Canada doesn’t mess up a once-in-a-century opportunity
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-farmland-ownership-canada-andjelic/
Economic Calendar: Sept 12 – Sept 16
Monday September 12
Chinese markets closed
Japan machine tool orders
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s National Balance Sheet and Financial Flow Accounts for Q2.
Earnings include: Oracle Corp.
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Tuesday September 13
Germany CPI
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian construction investment for July.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. CPI for August. The Street is projecting a year-over-year rise in inflation of 8.1 per cent, which is down from July’s 8.5 per cent.
(2 p.m. ET) U.S. budget balance for August.
Earnings include: Evertz Technologies Ltd.
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Wednesday September 14
Japan and Euro zone industrial production
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian manufacturing sales and new orders for July. The Street is projecting month-over-month declines of 1.0 per cent for both.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. PPI Final Demand for August. Consensus is a slide of 0.1 per cent from July and up 8.8 per cent year-over-year.
Earnings include: BRP Inc.
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Thursday September 15
Japan and Euro zone trade deficit
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian motor vehicle sales for July. Estimate is a year-over-year decline of 13.0 per cent.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Sept. 10. Estimate is 225,000, up 3,000 from the previous week.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. retail sales for August. The Street expects a flat result month-over-month
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. import prices for August. Consensus is a decline of 1.3 per cent from July but up 7.7 per cent year-over-year.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. Philadelphia Fed Index for September.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. Empire State Manufacturing Survey for September
(9 a.m. ET) Canadian existing home sales and average prices for August. Estimate is year-over-year declines of 26.0 per cent and 2.0 per cent, respectively.
(9 a.m. ET) Canada’s MLS Home Price Index for August. Estimate is a year-over-year rise of 8.5 per cent.
(9:15 a.m. ET) U.S. industrial production for August. The consensus projection is a rise of 0.1 per cent from July with capacity utilization remaining 80.3 per cent.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. business inventories for July. The Street expects an increase of 0.6 per cent from June.
Earnings include: Adobe Systems Inc.; Empire Company Ltd.
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Friday September 16
China industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment
Euro zone CPI
(8:15 a.m. ET) Canadian housing starts for August. The Street is forecasting an annualized rate decline of 3.8 per cent.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian wholesale trade for July. Estimate is a drop of 0.1 per cent from June.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian international securities transactions for July.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September.
Imperial Signs Deal With U.S.-Based Air Products For Hydrogen
Imperial Oil says it has reached a deal with a U.S.-based industrial gas company to supply low-carbon hydrogen for its proposed renewable diesel complex near Edmonton.
The deal will see Pennsylvania-based Air Products, which is building a hydrogen facility near Edmonton, supply hydrogen via pipeline to Imperial’s Strathcona refinery.
The hydrogen will be used together with locally grown vegetable oils to produce low-carbon diesel fuel.
Air Products says it will increase its overall investment in its Edmonton hydrogen facility to $1.6 billion to support the Imperial contract.
It says its facility will produce 165 million cubic feet per day of hydrogen when it opens in 2024 and approximately half of that will go to Imperial.
Imperial says its renewable diesel complex will be the largest facility of its kind in Canada, producing more than one billion litres per year of low-carbon diesel fuel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2022.
Bullish on Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
In our previous report (Sept. 19, 2021 – $49.85) we identified the start of a new uptrend and provided targets of $54 and $59. Earlier this year, Alimentation Couche-Tard ATD-T +1.56%increase (Friday’s close $59.42) rose to a high of $59.60 to fulfill our targets (A).
The stock had a minor correction recently and found support near the 40-week Moving Average (40wMA) and the rising trend line (solid line – B). The subsequent rise to $60.66 signalled the continuation of the uptrend toward higher targets (C).
Behaviour indicators including the rising 40wMA and the rising trend line confirm the bullish status. There is good support near $54-55; only a sustained decline below $52-53 would be negative.
Point & Figure measurements provide targets of $64 and $69. Higher targets are visible.
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Monica Rizk is the Senior Technical Analyst of the Phases & Cycles publication