The cost of climate change impacts is becoming more and more clear: a new report suggests weather-related disasters in Canada shaved billions of dollars off of Canada’s GDP growth over the last decade – amounting to 5-6 per cent of that growth annually.
For example, the 2013 Alberta floods, followed soon after by the 2018 Fort McMurray fire, not only damaged the economy, but also disrupted people’s employment and livelihoods. And even now, years afterward, people in continue to experience higher levels of mental illness and depression.
“We aren’t talking about abstract increases in average annual temperature or percentage changes in rainfall that people often find it hard to relate to,” Ness says. “These are billions of dollars in losses that are costing Canada and Canadians right now, and that will only get bigger.”
The Bank of Canada says a stronger loonie has re-emerged as a risk to its outlook for inflation, warning that the currency’s recent rise could weaken the competitiveness of the country’s goods and services.
Bank of Canada warns surging loonie could pose risk to economic outlookThe Canadian dollar has shot up to its highest level since early 2018, chiefly because of weakness in its U.S. counterpart, the Bank of Canada said in a monetary policy report released on Wednesday