thumb_cdndollars-bysa2.0-1.jpg
thumb_cdndollars-bysa2.0-1.jpg This article is more than 9 years old

Corporate Canada’s cash hoard exceeds national debt

This is quite a milestone. The amount of cash held by private non-financial corporations in Canada stood at $626 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from $591 billion in the third quarter, according to Statistics Canada. The big jump means corporate Canada’s accumulated stock of cash now exceeds the federal government’s accumulated deficit, […]

This is quite a milestone.

The amount of cash held by private non-financial corporations in Canada stood at $626 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from $591 billion in the third quarter, according to Statistics Canada.

The big jump means corporate Canada’s accumulated stock of cash now exceeds the federal government’s accumulated deficit, Erin Weir, an economist with the United Steelworkers union, points out. (The national debt stood at $612 billion at the end of 2013.)

Weir puts this “hoard of dead money” in context.

“The corporate sector’s aggressive accumulation of cash helps to explain the lack of investment and employment growth. It also strengthens the case for reversing corporate tax cuts to fund needed investments in public services and infrastructure. If corporate Canada will not invest its dead money, the government should resuscitate some of it,” Weir explains.

Photo: quinnanya. Used under a Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 licence.

Our journalism is powered by readers like you.

We’re an award-winning non-profit news organization that covers topics like social and economic inequality, big business and labour, and right-wing extremism.

Help us build so we can bring to light stories that don’t get the attention they deserve from Canada’s big corporate media outlets.

 

Donate
PressProgress
PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Most Shared

thumb-2023-03-08-BC-workers-recovery News

Ontario Budget 2023: Doug Ford Pulled a Sneaky Move to Quietly Cut Education

Related Stories

News

BC Workers are Being Forced Into Mandatory Drug Testing and Private ‘Recovery’ Programs

View the post
News

Budget 2023: Dental Care Plan Will Cover Millions More Uninsured Canadians Than Originally Estimated

View the post
News

Conservative Party Casts Doubt on Qualifications of Women Cabinet Ministers

View the post

Explainers

Human rights & inclusion

Amira Elghawaby

Here’s The Problem With Hoping Corporations Will Be Socially and Environmentally Responsible On Their Own

View the post
Politics & strategy

Jeremy Appel

The battle of the PACs in Calgary’s municipal election

View the post
Politics & strategy

Jeremy Appel

27 Different Candidates are Vying to be Calgary’s Mayor. Here Are the Biggest Issues at Stake.

View the post
Newspapers always have a business section – why not a labour section? We’ve launched a free newsletter covering labour issues in Canada.
Get Canadian Labour News You Won't Find in Corporate Newspapers.
We’ve launched a free newsletter covering labour issues in Canada.
Get Canadian Labour News You Won't Find in Corporate Newspapers