Last Friday morning, Statistics Canada greeted the country with a monthly employment report that, by any reasonable assessment, was good news.
Jobs increased by a modest but healthy 31,000 in October, adding to September’s surge of 157,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 6.7 per cent, the lowest since the pandemic began. Full-time employment accounted for all the gains. Private-sector hiring rose by 70,000. Hours worked were up. Wages were up.
But to hear the Conservative opposition’s spin, this was all very bad news indeed. It was smoking-gun evidence of economic mismanagement at its worst.
