"Statistics Canada projection shows a sharp decrease that will continue for at least the next 20 years. Employment growth since 1976 has averaged 1.6 per cent a year, while the population grew at a rate of 1.1 per cent. That extra half a percentage point added roughly 0.3-0.4 percentage points to the average growth rate of real per capita income above what it would have been otherwise. Not only is this source of growth about to disappear, demographic aging is going to start being a negative contributor to economic growth: fewer workers mean less output. One of the first places we'll see the effects of population aging is its effect on the government budget balance. Higher output per worker would help compensate for a reduction in the number of workers, so productivity will become an increasingly important policy priority. But in the short and medium term, there is no quick fix. "

"The Canadian dollar gained 0.14 of a cent to $1.0232 (U.S.).The Canadian currency has drifted lower for the past four weeks, partly on signs of further weakness in the U.S. economy. Data from the U.S. Commerce Department, released Thursday, showed that the economy grew at a tepid annual rate of 1.8 per cent in the first quarter, lower than many economists expected. Higher prices for gasoline and weak consumer spending have held back the economy. The Labour Department also said more people applied for unemployment benefits last week. On Friday, the Commerce Department said that both personal income and spending rose 0.4 per cent in April, in line with what economists expected. But the rise in spending was the smallest in three months. Another report showed that the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes in April plunged 26.5 per cent from a year earlier."

"The economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 was a distant memory by 2010 for Canada's top chief executive officers, at least as far as their pay packages were concerned. A Globe and Mail review of executive pay last year shows CEOs at Canada's 100 largest companies saw their compensation jump 13 per cent last year, led higher by a 20-per-cent increase in annual cash bonuses. Base salaries climbed 4 per cent. Instead, many gains for CEOs came from better economic performance by companies, which boosted variable elements of pay like cash bonuses. They can also be worthless. If the company performs in the bottom quarter of the peer group, and earns a negative return over three years, none of the share units vest for the executives. "

"Canada has five banks in the top 20, with CIBC ranking 4th internationally behind National Bank. Canadian banks have "higher capital ratios than anyone else in the world," Canaccord Genuity analyst Mario Mendonca told Bloomberg. National Bank Pres. & CEO Louis Vachon told Bloomberg: "…size is not everything in financial services," and indeed it's not. National Bank's #1 North American ranking shows that prudent risk management and liquidity are meaningful and a source of confidence for investors and customers alike. Other ranking criteria included non-performing assets, loan-loss reserves, deposits-to-funding, and cost efficiency."

"Interest rates have recently being going somewhere unexpected: down. With the United States government bumping up against its debt ceiling, inflation ticking upward, and a growing debt crisis in Europe, most expected interest rates to be increasing.If so, it will mean pain for savers, but good news for borrowers .A drop in interest rates is equivalent to a sale on the price of money, and corporations are already rushing to take advantage of the easy lending conditions, even if they're in no immediate need of funds. Mortgage rates have fallen, too - good news for homeowners looking to refinance. But lower rates have not turned out so well for some of the market's savviest players, including Bill Gross, the founder of Pimco, the world's biggest bond fund. Earlier this year, he sold his U.S. Treasuries, because he thought interest rates were poised to rocket higher, which would drive down prices of bonds. Oil has been trading consistently around the $100-a-barrel level, thereby lifting inflation, another bond-market negative. Investors are getting nervous and growing more willing to buy super-safe government bonds."