Kevin Carmichael

1 week ago | thelogic.co | Kevin Carmichael

Cenovus Energy chief executive Jon McKenzie needs no introduction. At least, he shouldn’t. If Canada is serious about diversifying exports and becoming an energy superpower, the leader of the country’s biggest oil and gas company by revenue will have an outsized role. McKenzie talked to The Logic last week about how he’s navigating one of the most chaotic periods in memory, what it would take to get Cenovus investing again and what Eastern Canada should make of the threat of Alberta separation.

1 week ago | thelogic.co | Kevin Carmichael

Ottawa and the provinces have done a better job narrowing deficits since the COVID-19 crisis than many of their peers, providing leeway to help offset tariffs, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its annual report on Canada. (The Logic)Talking point: The OECD said Canada’s economic outlook has “worsened considerably” because the economy is “highly exposed” to U.S. trade tensions and productivity is so weak.

1 week ago | thelogic.co | Kevin Carmichael

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board receives visitors on the 25th floor of a tower in downtown Toronto. The vastness of Lake Ontario in the distance is offset by the density of the surrounding skyscrapers. The concrete jungle will continue to encroach as time goes on. I counted nine construction cranes at work, a reminder of the struggle to match supply with this country’s insatiable demand for housing.

2 weeks ago | thelogic.co | Kevin Carmichael

CALGARY — Walking tours of Calgary include a stop at Spanish artist Jaume Plensa’s “Wonderland,” a massive wire-mesh sculpture of a girl’s head that dominates the plaza in front of The Bow skyscraper. There are two other larger-than-life Plensa sculptures in Canada: “Dreaming” in Toronto and “Source” in Montreal.

2 weeks ago | thelogic.co | Kevin Carmichael

The consumer price index increased 1.7 per cent in April from a year earlier, slower than the Bank of Canada’s target rate of two per cent. At the same time, the two measures the central bank uses to correct for noisy price changes continued to drift higher. (The Logic)Talking point: On its own, Statistics Canada’s latest reading of headline inflation supports a cut when the Bank of Canada next sets the benchmark borrowing rate on June 4.