Briefing highlights
- Resource companies to cut spending by 23%
- Canadians lax on cloud security
- Video: How to say no to more work
Sectors eye big cuts
Canada’s resource companies and manufacturers plan to slash spending this year, another blow to two embattled sectors.
Capital spending in oil and gas, mining and quarrying are projected to plunge by more than 23 per cent, or $14.3-billion to $47.7-billion, a Statistics Canada survey released today showed.
The bulk of that is in the energy patch, which accounts for more than 75 per cent of spending in the sector, the agency said.
“To no surprise, Canadian businesses are still pulling back sharply on capital spending, and the holy grail for an economic recovery powered by a cheaper currency is nowhere in sight,” said chief economist Avery Shenfeld of CIBC World Markets, referring to hopes that manufacturing would help ease the oil patch burden.
The study of spending on non-residential construction and machinery and equipment projected a drop of $7.5-billion for conventional oil and gas, and $5.5-billion for non-conventional.
Canada’s oil patch has been cutting costs since the collapse in prices began, and hard-hit Alberta is forecast to be slammed again, adding to both the oil shock and the Fort McMurray wildfires.
Spending in the home of the energy industry is projected to plunge 27.5 per cent, Statistics Canada said, to $28.1-billion from $38.8 billion last year.
Saskatchewan is also expected to be hit to the tune of $2.3-billion.
The oil patch isn’t alone, but it will be the hardest hit. Of 19 other sectors surveyed, the agency said, 11 expect spending to decline.
Among them, manufacturing will be hurt, with spending falling to $17-billion from $19.1-billion.
“Manufacturing capital spending is dropping like a stone, off nearly 11 per cent in 2016 plans to the lowest level since 2013,” said CIBC’s Mr. Shenfeld.
“Whatever the location advantages might be from the lower Canadian dollar, they are being swamped by the lack of any need for capaity expansions amidst lacklustre global growth.”
When you add it all up, private and public sector spending is now projected to drop 4.4 per cent from last year, to $241.6-billion.
A scene I'd love to see ...
“Hey, how long to print each trillion?”
Head in the clouds
A lot of us have done dumb things in our lives. But keeping passwords on a Post-it note?
Canadians are doing some dumb things when it comes to cloud computing, as well as breaking rules as they go, a new survey by Toronto-based Softchoice found.
Among the most striking of the findings in the survey of 1,500 workers was that more than 40 per cent of Canadians leave their passwords around for just about anybody to see, including on Post-it notes.
Indeed, Canadians appear to be behaving badly compared to Americans, as the graphic below shows.
“Risky behaviour and data vulnerabilities are almost guaranteed to persist without adequate education on the apps, platforms and IT tools employees use,” said the study commissioned by the IT company.
“While employees gain a better understanding of IT through training and communications, IT also needs to better understand employee behaviours and preferences,” it added.