Economic Downturns – Ontario 2009 was Worse than Alberta 2016
OTTAWA: Federal documents say Ontario’s auto sector absorbed a far greater economic wallop during the financial crisis than the damage low oil prices have inflicted on Alberta.
The memo circulated earlier this year examined the two economic crises after some observers had called on governments to help Alberta’s energy industry much like the 2009 bailout of the automotive sector.
The document says the auto sector’s situation was much more dire when the federal and Ontario governments spent 13.7 billion dollars to bail out Chrysler and General Motors.
It says the unemployment rate in Alberta’s oil sector climbed to 7.9 per cent last year, up from 2.9 per cent in 2011.