APRIL 1995 Edition
INTERNET
The Pacific Northwest Economic Development Council, a 36
year old non-profit organization representing economic development
professionals in the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho
along with the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, has produced an
excellent Internet-based regional development tool. The system, named "Pacific
Northwest Passages" and found by any WWW browser at http://awinc.com/pnedc/
features city profiles full of key information for international business
marketers, local business opportunity listings and a professional economic
development resource directory. Anyone interested in doing business with the
Pacific Northwest and its annual GDP of $326 billion will find this system
invaluable for leads and contacts. This Economic Digest also appears on "Passages"
and questions or requests for more information on any item may be posted at the
same Internet address.
TICKETS
Later this year, Air Canada plans to go ahead with a new
ticketless travel system that will enable passengers to book their tickets by
home computer and pay with a credit card when they arrive on board. It is
estimated that this will save the airline up to $1.5 million in paper, printing
and handling. Over the long term, it could result in significant savings by
avoiding travel-agent commissions which cost the airline $310 million in 1994.
Ticketless travel could theoretically save $40 million a year.
FRAUD
Fake grocery coupons are making the rounds, involving
books of coupons purported to be worth up to $6,000 each in prizes from
big-name manufacturers such as Nabisco, Nestle and Kraft. Since last fall,
almost 4,500 Canadians have lost roughly $4.5 million in the scam. Consumers
have called the companies complaining that grocery stores will not honour the
bogus coupons. Most of the coupons claim to have a $10 value and carry a
picture of a grocery cart in the middle. Telemarketers have used high pressure
sales tactics to sell the coupons, which are being sold for roughly $200 to
$1,200 a book.
NAFTA
Despite the current problems with Mexico, formal
negotiations to bring Chile into NAFTA start in May and could be concluded
within a year. Next will be Argentina and Brazil.
Unlike Mexico, Chile is
small with 14 million people. Democracy is well established and Chile had a
ten-year start over other Latin American countries in market reforms and began
bringing down its own trade barriers without waiting for others to reciprocate.
The economy has grown uninterruptedly for 11 years, and
at an average annual rate of 7 per cent for the last eight years. Chile's
investment rate is 25 per cent, nearly up to Asian levels. Inflation is down to
single digits, unemployment a mere 5 per cent, foreign trade in surplus and
external debt under control. Santiago has plenty of mobile telephones, a modern
skyline and American-educated officials who talk enthusiastically about
privatization. Only a few adjustments are expected to be necessary in areas
such as patents and repatriation of foreign investment. However, agriculture
may prove to be a sensitive subject.
RESOURCES
Last year, 10,000 Canadians were working in coal mining
and production jumped 5.6 per cent to over 72 million tonnes of coal valued at
$1.8 billion. Alberta and B.C are the biggest producers with a combined
production of 58 million tonnes. Canada consumes 50 million tonnes and exports
the balance to more than 20 countries. The biggest customers are in Japan,
South Korea and Brazil.
The Canadian oil and gas industry drilled 11,872 wells in
1994, up from 9,396 the previous year. 77.7 per cent of wells drilled in 1994
struck either oil or natural gas compared with 81 per cent in 1993. Oil wells
accounted for 45.2 per cent of successful drilling and gas wells for 32.4 per
cent.
TRAVEL
In 1993, U.S. residents made 12 million trips to Canada
and spent C$4.1 billion. The typical traveller stayed 3.9 nights and spent $87
per night. Americans tended to visit in the summer and come from four states:
New York, Michigan, Washington and California. In more than half the cases,
pleasure was the primary reason for visiting Canada (Ontario was the main
destination); visits to friends or relatives accounted for a fifth of the
total; business trips represented 15 per cent of all overnight trips.
HUNTING
The Government of Alberta recently approved for auction,
in Phoenix, the chance to hunt a bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. The
winner, a Colorado businessman, paid $225,000 (U.S.) and will be given a month
to hunt down one mature male. Last month at an auction in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, a Washington hunter bid $23,000 for an elk-hunting permit. Similar
sales are not allowed in Alberta where residents pay $10 each to enter draws
for the chance to hunt elk or sheep.
WOMEN
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says a
country-wide survey has found "outrageous" discrimination against
female entrepreneurs. They are likely to find discrimination on two levels:
they are refused loans 20 per cent more often than men, and when they do get
financing, they often pay a higher rate of interest than do men. The CFIB has
recommended that banks should decentralize their credit decision making to the
branch level where a relationship of confidence exists between the account
manager and borrower; that account managers should be better trained in
understanding the importance of female entrepreneurs in the Canadian economy;
and that financial institutions must better understand the particular needs of
small and medium sized businesses, especially those owned by women.
COMPUTERS
Computers are big business in Canada, and the industry is
growing quickly. According to Industry Canada, the top 100 Canadian computer
companies are growing faster--30 per cent between 1992 and 1993--than the top
100 U.S. computer companies, which grew at only 19 per cent over the same
period. Depending on how you define the industry, the Information Technology
sector is worth anywhere between $19 billion and $49 billion a year and
employed 342,000 Canadians in 1994. The IT industry grew by 6.7 per cent last
year, easily outpacing most other sectors of the economy.
INDIA
Canada was once India's third largest trading partner,
now it is 24th behind Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands and trails badly all the
other Group of Seven nations. Canada's exports to India remained flat in the
first six months of this fiscal year, at about $151 million (U.S.), while
India's total merchandise imports soared 22 per cent to $17.6 billion. In the
Indian market, exports are doubling every five years and domestic demand will soon
outstrip that of many industrialized countries. In its most recent budget, the
Indian government announced further tariff cuts on industrial goods and a
five-year tax holiday on investments in infrastructure projects.
EDUCATION
Last year, the economy added 277,000 jobs, its best
showing since 1988. But a large group of Canadians are getting nothing out of
the recovery. If you have completed some form of postsecondary education--a
university degree, a community college diploma, a training certificate--you
will get a job. Without it you won't. For those with high-school education, or
less, 145,000 jobs disappeared. For those with post secondary education,
422,000 jobs opened up. That means 99.3 per cent of people entering the labour
force with a degree or diploma found work. From 1990 to 1992, total employment
fell 323,000; from 1992 to 1994 employment rose by 450,000. Last year we were
127,000 jobs ahead of 1990. From 1990 to 1994, the economy created about
957,000 jobs for people with that essential piece of paper. At the same time,
it destroyed 830,000 jobs for people with anything less, a massive change over
such a short period in a 13.3 million-person job market.
ABSENTEEISM
Canadians missed an average of 9.3 days at work in 1993,
but the portion of time off because of illness and disability dropped slightly
from a decade earlier. Time lost because of illness or disability declined to
about 6.1 days from 6.7 days in 1983. Meanwhile, time lost for personal or
family responsibilities increased from 1.9 to 3.3 days. Factors contributing to
the decline in time off because of illness range from non-smoking workplaces,
to fitness programs and improved safety conditions.
TECHNOLOGY
B.C. firms lag behind those in other parts of Canada in
adopting computer-based technology. According to Statistics Canada, among
Ontario companies, 86 per cent have at least one technology on the premises,
compared to 77 per cent on the Prairies, 76 per cent in Quebec and just 66 per
cent in B.C.
PRIVATIZATION
The federal weather offices in B.C. and Yukon are
expecting to earn an estimated $500,000 this year. Under the federal
government's move towards commercialization, the weather office is now selling
commercials on weather information lines, working in partnership with private
enterprise and developing personalized forecasts for business For $87.00 an
hour, a business can get a one-on-one consultation from weather specialists. At
the low end of the scale, people are paying a few dollars to get detailed
weather faxes for holiday destinations. Next month, a marine weather service
comes on line called Weathercall. A bulletin board for computer users, weather
fax service and 900 lines are all new services.
SNOWBIRDS
The recent budget will affect Canadians who live abroad
permanently. Starting next year, they will lose at least one-quarter of their
monthly Old Age Security cheques. If they don't tell Ottawa how much they
earn--or if they do but earn over $84,000-- they lose OAS altogether. This
budget provision will affect 69,000 of the 3.4 million people who receive OAS.
As the system now works, Ottawa taxes back part of OAS income to people living
in Canada if their annual income is more than $53,215 but it has no way of
doing the same to Canadians who have left the country.
A Canadian living in the U.S., for example, gets the
whole amount and pays U.S. taxes on half of it. Under the new system, the same
person would pay a withholding tax of 25 per cent of the monthly OAS payment,
but the U.S. will not tax the remaining 75 per cent. This move will leave
individuals worse off, but Ottawa, not Washington, will get the tax revenue.
BUREAUCRACY
A 69-year old man who lay dead for nearly four years in a
London council apartment building has been judged as a victim of
"indifferently managed" home-help services. We wonder what would
constitute "badly-managed" services!
EMPLOYMENT VACANCY
The post of Sheriff of Nottingham, once held by the
arch-foe of legendary outlaw Robin Hood, is vacant for the first time in 800
years because nobody wants the job.
POLLS
In a recent poll by the Washington Post, 43 per cent of
people surveyed either approved of the 1975 Public Affairs Act or felt that it
should be repealed. There is no such legislation!
TRIVIA
After only seven days of learning, a herd of 133 cows in
Sussex, England, have started to milk themselves. They decide when they want to
be milked by the Dutch-made robotic system and if there is a technical hitch,
the farmer is contacted by modem.
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