After ten years of conservative and austerity rule in the Canadian parliament, voters put a new Liberal government in place on a push to kickstart the economy.

Canada’s economic growth plays directly into Arizona’s real estate market as Canadians are Arizona’s largest source of foreign snow birds and the real estate investors keeping the CRE market alive during the recession.
John Stackhouse, senior vice president, office of the CEO, Royal Bank Canada

“It was time for a change, and (Canadians) acted swiftly,” said Jack Stackhouse, former Toronto Globe and Mail editor and now a senior vice president in the office of the CEO of Royal Bank of Canada. “The conservative government approach was showing signs of being tired. There was very little support for austerity.”

Stackhouse, considered one of the most plugged-in Canadian government experts, will keynote the second in the Phoenix Business Journal Global Market Discovery Series on Canada, Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 7 a.m. in the Sheraton Grand in downtown Phoenix.

Stackhouse said that voters supported the Liberal government platform of new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, son of the late 1970s prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The new minister ran on a platform of tax cuts for the middle class and increases for the wealthy.

“Trudeau’s tax cuts affect families earning between $40,000C and $80,000C a year,” Stackhouse said. “Families earning over $200,000C will need to pay higher taxes with the money going for infrastructure.”

A small deficit is also an intended outcome of the Liberal platform. The action is designed to spur economic growth. Canada has been hard hit by stagnant economic conditions because of its reliance on fossil fuel development and mineral resource extraction, according to Stackhouse.

“There are fascinating subplots,” said Stackhouse. “Some of the regions, like British Columbia with wood exports to the U.S. and Asia, are doing really well. Manufacturing is rebounding in southern Ontario.”

He added that there is a growing creative hub in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“The Canadian housing market is also robust,” he said. “But times are tough in Alberta and Manitoba because of energy.”

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