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Investment begets jobs

June 26, 2014

Statistics Canada publishes an annual document on investment intentions. It reveals where the $400B in capital investment will be made in the coming year. Alberta is attracting a large portion of investment dollars and the people and jobs follow.

Investment intentions for non-residential construction and machinery and equipment are based upon a sample surveyof 25,000 private and public organizations. This survey was conducted between October 2013 and late January 2014. For residential construction, the private and public investment program uses housing start estimates from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Housing starts are forecast under high, medium and low scenarios by the CMHC. These scenarios are used to estimate new housing investment, a key component of the overall housing forecast estimates.

Highlights.

A subset of Alberta investment is of course the oil sands. Capital spending in the Alberta oilsands will rise to a record of about $32 billion in 2014 and more than half of it will go to in situ projects. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers predicted oilsands production will grow to 5.2 million barrels per day by 2030, up from 1.8 million barrels per day in 2012.

Commentary

Investment continues to flow into Alberta and to the oilsands. People continue to migrate to Alberta in search of work. On a net basis 60,000 people come to Alberta from other parts of Canada. That’s the story the statistics tell.

Sources

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Source: Statistics Canada. Data shown 2012/13.