The two BoC "core inflation" measures both record slow but steady progress since the inflation burst in 2022. Almost, but still not quite down to the 2% steady state target.

The CPI recorded no increase in March when food and energy are excluded and the index is seasonally adjusted. For ALL the details check out my CPI dashboard: philipsmith.ca/CPI/cpi.html and I recommend setting the default chart to YOY% and the range to 2022-2026 before you start exploring. #cdnecon

This chart, from today's OECD "What's new?" email, tells quite a story. Canada's defence spending increase in 2025 over 2022 looks rather modest compared to those of the northern European countries.

The 4th quarter labour productivity statistics were released on March 4, so they are a bit stale. But I have been building dashboards for monthly Canadian economic statistics lately so here's another, for quarterly labour productivity. #cdnecon philipsmith.ca/labour_produ...

Two new Canadian economy dashboards Canada is fortunate to have a wide range of monthly statistics that gauge the many dimensions of the economy in a timely fashion.

I released a short paper today presenting two new Canadian dashboards that aficionados of the economy might like. It could not have been built - not by me anyway - without the new Claude coding tool from Anthropic. The paper is free on my Substack page. philip635.substack.com/p/two-new-ca...

Why did people stop responding to federal economic surveys? What can be done? | Brookings Authors discuss how survey response rates impact the statistics we care about and why response rates are falling in the first place.

Here's a good paper on a problem plaguing the statistical systems of not just the US, but Canada and other countries too. It has major implications for the reliability and relevance of Statistics Canada surveys. www.brookings.edu/articles/why...

Examine today's LFS release in detail here: philipmsmith.shinyapps.io/LFStables/ or lokk at the main aggregates in the Labour group here: philipsmith.ca/macroindicat... #cdnecon

7

A chuckle in today's G&M cryptic crossword puzzle: "State where Prince Harry spent nine months?"

Neil Young - Harvest Moon [Official Music Video] YouTube video by neilyoungchannel

Given all this talk about the moon these days, I am posting one of my favourite youtube music videos that centres on the moon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Mt...

Thank you for the kind words Irrelephant.

I have recently released version 1.1 of my Canadian Macroeconomic Indicators Dashboard, displaying charts, tables and metadata for 228 monthly time series. The dashboard provides flexibility to analyze the latest data in several different ways. Give it a try. philipsmith.ca/macroindicat...

I've been playing with Claude.

I have developed a new application, autonomously updated every morning, that serves up 214 monthly Canadian economic indicators. Please give it a try and see if you like it. philipsmith.ca/macroindicat...
#cdnecon

If you could use a computer app to find Statistics Canada time series, view and analyze them and download them, along with the table they are contained in if you wish, then I invite you to give my findstats app a try: philipsmith.ca/getstats/fin...

Here's what has happened to US federal government payroll employment lately, in a longer-term context. The data extend to February 2026 and come from BLS.

It does include Canadians born here. The red bar is the difference between births in Canada and deaths. Net within-Canada population growth is near zero because birth rates have gone down and the population structure has been aging.

The Americans keep relearning the same lesson over and over again. They learned it in Vietnam and again in Iraq. Now it comes once more in Iran. When attacking a determined enemy on their own soil, they will fight back in ways you don't expect. Your bombs and heavy hardware are not enough.

Here's Canada's population growth rates since 1946. The 2020s have clearly been quite atypical, to say the least. #cdnecon

Statistics Canada released fourth quarter population estimates this morning. The total population continued to decrease (black line) due mostly to a net decline in the number of non-permanent residents. #cdnecon

Claude is amazing. Here's an app it created for me in no time at all that provides information and charts for any Statistics Canada time series vector number. Give it a go. #cdnecon www.philipsmith.ca/statcan/stat...

Naively, I did not intend to start a firestorm. I honestly would like to know Mr. Poilievre's answer.

Mr. Poilievre takes journalists' questions of late. Today he was criticizing the govt for not starting a new pipeline project yet. A journalist should ask him how specifically the govt should do that. Ignore aboriginal rights? Ignore provincial objections? Assume the financial risks federally?

Estimated labour productivity growth in Canadian business surpassed that in the US between 1947 and 1985, fell short by 1.2 percentage points between 1985 and 2010, was about the same between 2010 and 2019, and fell short again between 2019 and 2025, this time by 1.4 percentage points. #cdnecon

Data released by Statistics Canada today indicate that capital expenditures in Canada's oil and gas extraction industry ticked up modestly in the fourth quarter. #cdnecon

Affordability in Canada and the US Similarities and differences

I invite you to read my new substack release on the affordability issue in Canada and the US.
philip635.substack.com/p/affordabil...

In the light of StatCan's upward revisions to real GDP last November, we now see the economy has generally been operating a bit above its pre-pandemic trend line since 2021, although it dipped slightly below it again in 2025 Q4. #cdnecon

Here is my chart summary of today's 2025 Q4 national accounts release from Statistics Canada. #cdnecon
www.philipsmith.ca/Canadian_nat...

SEPH for December shows a 0.2% drop in employment vs. November. Total weekly compensation of employees was up 0.2% in the month and 2.6% compared to a year earlier. Real fixed-weight AHE decreased 0.2%. philipmsmith.shinyapps.io/SEPHbrowser/