EI and Bankruptcy Filings Dramatically Increasing
The number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy and unemployment benefits rose significantly in January, according to new numbers released Tuesday by The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada. More than 117,000 Canadians filed for bankruptcy over the period of twelve months ending January 2009. This denotes an increase of 15.8 % from the previous […]
Chrysler Threatens Shutdown of Canadian Operations
Last week’s threat by Chrysler to close Canadian plants if it doesn’t win big concessions from the CAW is possibly one the most troubling announcements since the beginning of the auto industry meltdown. Tom LaSorda, Chrysler president, said the company needs to lower its labour costs by about 25%, reducing wages from the current estimated […]
SR&ED – Essential To Canadian Manufacturers
The current economic recession has proven to hit even harder than many economists anticipated. An estimated 129,000 Canadians lost their jobs in January alone, of which Statistics Canada reports that Ontario workers lost a staggering 71,000. Alberta, once a thriving, profitable province, is even feeling the blow, having recently announced another 15,000 jobs lost. Forecasters […]
Free SR&ED Seminar – Friday, March 6, 2009
On Friday, March 6th 2009, Northbridge Consultants will be holding another free breakfast seminar, to provide a useful information sessoin on the SR&ED program. The seminar will be held at the Waterloo Inn Conference Hotel. Details can be found at https://www.northbridgeconsultants.com/sr&ed-news-events.php For more information, email info@northbridgeconsultants.com or call us at (519) 623-2486.
A Look at 2008 Holiday Season Sales
Stores opened even before the crack of dawn, but many Boxing Day shoppers were lining up as early as the night before, some admittedly even forsaking Christmas dinners to be first in line and take advantage of the savings. As the day wore on, the dangerously icy roads and miserable rain still didn’t stop shoppers […]
“It’s the Economy, Stupid”
With a federal election just around the corner, Canada is experiencing weakest GDP growth in almost 17 years. The deteriorating health of the Canadian economy is reflected in recent polls, in which Canadians now rank the economy ahead of health care and the environment as their chief concern. “For too long, we allowed high commodity prices […]
Canada Barely Avoids Recession
Canada narrowly avoided a recession in the first half of this year as the economy (GDP, or Gross Domestic Product) edged up by a weaker-than-expected rate of 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, following a revised 0.8 per cent drop in the previous three-month period. Most analysts had expected second-quarter growth of 0.6 per […]
Concerned with economy
This week we are looking at our “Ask an Expert” Mail bag! We have been noticing questions like this one. So here is our response! Gas prices are up and I can’t justify spending more money on developing a new product. Can I still take advantage of the SR&ED program? You do not have to […]
Cutting costs without sacrificing the future
In times of recession, many companies cut down on costs. But unless you’re facing bankruptcy, cutting costs may come at the cost of sacrificing future sales. For instance, to make the bottom line look better, you could always downsize R&D efforts. This may make the current quarter look more profitable. However, the lack of R&D may […]