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COLUMN: We must change our habits if we are to survive

'We’re learning to adapt, as we always have, but if we’re going to outpace climate change, health, and economic threats, the pace of change in worldwide personal habits is going to have pick up.'
Jackson Roger
Columnist Roger Jackson

Next year three major subjects will be top of mind — economy, environment, health. Same as this year. On the economy, growth, inflation, and debt will be predominate. The Bank of Canada and Liberal government are banking on national growth. Five months ago, the Bank of Canada reported that it would not raise its low base interest rate of 0.25 per cent, letting the economy continue to grow, despite rising inflation. It and the government said the Canadian economy was doing well despite the pandemic. Last week, the Bank of Canada made the same announcement, although there had been speculation it would increase its base rate to slow the economy and rising inflation, now at close to five per cent (historically, inflation has generally been closer to one per cent).

Canada’s central bank is essentially our money manager. One of its most important roles is affecting money movement by raising or lowering a base borrowing rate that directly impacts all financial institutions which hold our money and lend money to us. The Bank of Canada is motivated by business and consumer activity and anticipated needs. It now sees signs of growth, such as in housing and other essential consumer goods; businesses re-opening or getting back to normal; employment rising; and trade increasing — especially exports, thanks largely to oil and natural gas exports. But there are offsets that have to be watched — supply isn’t keeping up to demand; product prices are higher; and wages, although increasing, are not keeping up to price increases. And governments that subsidized businesses and families for the past two years are heavily in debt and are not in a position to continue subsidies much longer.

Current high inflation is global, which affects trade relationships. In the U.S., bond traders are bucking trends by predicting stagflation there — high inflation, low growth — even though most of their economic indicators are pretty good. The big problem in the U.S. like everywhere, is continued uncertainty caused by the pandemic, especially with new COVID variants (the U.S.'s fully dosed vaccine rate is 61 per cent, with the lowest rate in the under-25s; Canada’s rate is 79 per cent, Alberta’s is 72 per cent). This worries U.S. economists, as the highly transmittable COVID Omicron variant surpasses the Delta variant. The U.S., Canada’s major trading partner, is not healthy. Alberta is not much better, yet.

Environmental disasters remain prevalent and disruptive, as B.C. and the Maritimes experienced recently. It seems that if some places aren’t burning up, they’re flooding. It impacts us all. Scientists continue to point out climate-change examples, the latest being the acceleration of the world’s largest current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, caused by warming waters. Our overcrowded, overconsumed world is at risk. The world will survive, but not as many of us if we don’t change our habits.

COVID isn’t going away, as the Delta and Omicron variants have proven. Like influenza, we must live with it and protect ourselves from it. Environmental impacts, likewise. Should we worry? Yes! Should we panic? No! Human ingenuity and invention will continue to bring progress, including more environmentally friendly products and practices, and continued improvements in health care. That’s our new economy. We’re learning to adapt, as we always have, but if we’re going to outpace climate change, health, and economic threats, the pace of change in worldwide personal habits is going to have pick up.

Roger Jackson is a former deputy minister and a St. Albert resident.

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