What Albertans can expect from the economy in 2023
CBC
Last year was a financial roller-coaster, and Alberta probably isn't getting off the ride in 2023. But the province appears in a better economic position than most others to handle the nauseating rises and falls.
Economists and banks are forecasting that heavy inflation, volatile energy prices and geopolitical uncertainty will continue to be factors this year.
"2023 is going to have a lot of uncertainty associated with it, especially for Alberta. Where the province goes economically is tightly related to commodity prices, which are determined by all sorts of global factors," said Trevor Tombe, an economist at the University of Calgary.
Alberta, however, has some tools to help it adjust.
"We're still getting a pretty good boost from our commodity sector in oil and gas and agriculture. So rough waters — can't avoid them — but we'll be able to do a little bit better than other places," said Rob Roach, the deputy chief economist at ATB Financial.
An influx of new Albertans, recovering job numbers and record profits in the oil sector are all positives.
Despite that cushion, the threat of recession still looms.
Inflation and the cost of living consistently ranked at the top of polling on Albertans' preoccupations in 2022.
Canada's inflation rate sat at 6.8 per cent at the end November, and Alberta's sat barely lower at 6.6 per cent (down from a high of 8.4 per cent in June).
All categories of goods were more expensive in the province last year. Food (10.6 per cent) and transportation (7.1 per cent) increased the most, according to the province.
Inflation is expected to remain high for most of 2023.
"Where inflation goes is a big open question, not uniquely in Alberta, but that's the most important thing to watch," Tombe said.
He expects inflation will likely fall to around three per cent by the end of the year, which is close to normal levels.
Even if things stay relatively stable on a provincial level, Roach said people will still feel the sting in their wallets.
Another of New Brunswick's new municipal councils has become embroiled in drama and bitter conflict.
Tardiness is nothing new at Via Rail, but late arrivals are reaching historic levels in a key corridor since passenger trains have been forced to slow down at hundreds of rail crossings operated by CN Rail.
Walmart Canada will stop selling machetes — a type of weapon frequently used in violent crimes — in stores across the country, after Manitoba's government pressured the retailer to restrict online sales.
The parents of two 15-year-old girls at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon say they went to police and the school multiple times between June and August 2024 with concerns about escalating online threats from the student now accused of setting one of the girls on fire in a school hallway.
After more than two years of developing an official plan, the City of Charlottetown is getting close to voting on adopting it. Some residents have concerns with higher density housing the plan could make way for, but others are welcoming it.
Premier Danielle Smith is once again headed to the U.S. later this month to continue her diplomatic approach to tariff talks amid a trade war with the United States.
Point Roberts, a U.S. community in Washington state, is so Canadian that it advertises its gas prices in litres as well as gallons.
Ibrahim Hermus arrived in Canada in 2023 with hopes his young daughter, Cena, would receive the medical care she desperately needed for a rare condition.
Advocacy organizations won't appeal an Ontario court's decision to dismiss their Charter challenge of the province's long-term care (LTC) law, which allows hospitals to move people into homes they didn't choose or be charged $400 a day to remain in hospital.
A proposed Thunder Bay lithium refinery has taken a big step forward, getting support from both the provincial and federal governments.
As the consumption and treatment services (CTS) site winds down in Guelph, Ont., the service set to replace it will not be fully operational in time.
It's a lively March day at the Dr. John M. Gillis Memorial Lodge in Belfast, P.E.I., as residents tap their feet and sing along with a guitarist performing The Black Velvet Band in a common room.
The Government of the Northwest Territories is reinstating a $100,000 fund that supports training and in-person meetings for shelters and safe homes across the territory.