After a number of weeks of campaigning, $610,000,000 of costs, and a significant amount of drama, we are pretty much back to where we started with regards to Federal Politics. This turned out to be the most expensive election in Canadian history and one with a lower turnout than 2008's election1. Many weren't happy to be going to the polls at this time and many will be left unsatisfied with the results. Similar to 2019, the Conservative Party of Canada won the popular vote with a very strong showing in the Prairies, parts of BC and Southern Ontario. The Liberals once again won a number of large urban areas2. Some of these elections were very close and often only separated by a few hundred votes. In the end, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn't get the majority that he was after and the seat make-up in parliament looks much the same as it did before.
While there was little change in Ottawa, things in Alberta and Saskatchewan took a turn for the worse. The Delta Variant has hit our two provinces hard and has taken a major toll on our healthcare system. While we are still doing much better than many US States who have been hit extremely hard by COVID-193, our hospitals have been overwhelmed. This has led to many people cancelling plans and going back to ordering in and social distancing. Most of Canada has been able to keep case counts much lower than we have and are seeing their economies opening back up. When reviewing CTVs graphics on the pandemic in North America, you can see that all Canadian Provinces and Territories except AB, BC and the NWT are at the very bottom of the list (which means they are doing well). So, while things are getting back to normal in most of our country, we are going back to strict measures here. Once again, our hearts go out to all the business owners who will be hit hard by this and the healthcare workers who are already exhausted.
We'd also like to remind everyone that we've really built up a wide variety of resources in our career in Financial Services. We know Legal Teams who can help with Wills and Estate Planning, Accounting Teams who can help with your Income Tax, an Excellent Mortgage Broker and a number of Real Estate Professionals. If you are in need of any of the above services, let us know and we will point you in the right direction!
Stay safe out there and have a good fourth quarter of 2021.
Bryce A. Borden
1CTV News: - https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-s-costly-election-could-600m-have-been-spent-elsewhere-1.5598153
2CTV News: - https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-election-2021