TORONTO – Five things to watch this week in Canadian business:
CRTC: The CRTC kicks off public hearings Monday in Gatineau, Que., to examine whether it should take measures against differential pricing practices for Internet data plans. The issue has stuck under the craw of many consumers who say it undermines “net neutrality” by not treating all Internet traffic equally as the big telcos are allowed to sell the same service to different customers at different prices.
Fiscal Update: Many eyes will be on Ottawa on Tuesday when the federal government releases its fall economic statement. But this isn’t expected to be your garden-variety fiscal update. Rather, there is much speculation the feds may expedite the flow of infrastructure funding in an effort to boost the economy.
GDP: On the same day as the economic statement, we’ll get the GDP figures for the month of August. That data will provide a sense as to whether the anticipated rebound in the economy is materializing after a brutal second quarter that saw a contraction. Prospects were looking good in July, when the economy grew by 0.5 per cent, defying expectations.
Jobs: The closely watched jobs report comes out Friday, when Statistics Canada releases employment data for October. There was a strong showing the previous month with the addition of 67,200 net new jobs, but most of those were from part-time and self-employed work. The unemployment rate is seven per cent.
Earnings, earnings, earnings: The earnings parade continues this week. Some of the notable companies reporting are SNC-Lavalin, Enbridge, Encana, BCE and Telus.
