Last week, it was reported that Toronto was experiencing an increase in its unemployment rate as of late. Sadly, statistics show that the city's current rate is the highest it has been in fifteen years.

Unfortunately, it would appear as if the rest of the country is following this exact trend. As reported today by Peter Zimonjic and Christina Spencer of the National Bureau, “the number of jobs losses in Canada continues to soar with another 45,000 disappearing last month.”

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warns that further job losses for Canadians are imminent. This, of course, refutes any idea of the recession being “over” as was declared by The Bank of Canada just a couple of weeks ago. This declaration, not surprisingly, was met with extreme skepticism and anger by Canadians who had lost their jobs due to the struggling economy.

If the recession was over, said many online readers of the supposedly good news, their employment statuses would have naturally been restored. “The unemployment rate will lag the recovery of the economy,” says Flaherty in a statement most would consider quite obvious.

According to Zimonjic and Spencer, citizens of Quebec are suffering the most severe losses of employment as the province “dumped 37,000 jobs in July.”

Similar to the job losses in Toronto, the construction industry throughout the nation has suffered greatly. Also like in Toronto, students across Canada, who depend on summer jobs to help pay their ways through school, have been hit hard.

The unemployment rate for students is at 20.9% – the highest it has been since 1977 when Statistics Canada started keeping such records. NDP Leader Jack Layton weighed in on this revelation: “Seeing such a high rate of unemployment among the youth is really worrying because the young people were counting on these (jobs) for their education…They're going to be very discouraged.”

Evidently, the unemployment rate is one of the most damaging effects of the recession. Until a significant number of these lost jobs are restored, most Canadians will not feel as if its nation has successfully bounced back from the economic crisis being felt across the globe. It appears, at this time, that such a resurgence is a long way off.

Over the past several months, there has been a lot of talk about the struggling economy and the many negative effects it has had on the Canadian population. The Synergy Merchant Services Blog, of course, has and continues to stay on top of this issue.

As discussed in previous blogs, the recession has provided quite the roller coaster ride for Canadians all over the country – not in the fun and exhilirating way, mind you. Evidence from both sides of the fence have poured in from media outlets since the beginning of the recession. The economy is improving one day, then it is getting worse the next. One never knows exactly what to believe.

Unfortunately, it would appear as if today marks one of those downturns in the less-than-enjoyable roller coaster ride that is Canada's financial crisis. As reported by Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew on The Toronto Star's website, Toronto is seeing its worst unemployment rate in nearly fifteen years. Job losses – one of the most impactful results of the recession – has become an epidemic of sorts in Canada.

Acharya-Tom Yew writes that “the unemployment rate in the Greater Toronto Area hit the double-digits last month as a strong Canadian dollar and cool, wet weather took its toll on the tourism industry. The city's jobless rate reached 10 per cent last month – its highest level since November, 1994, according to the latest figures released by Statistics Canada today. That's up from 9.6 per cent for June.”

He goes on to note that these statistics put Toronto fourth on the list for having the highest unemployment rate in Ontario following Windsor, London and St. Catharines-Niagara.

Speaking to Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, Acharya-Tom Yew was informed that the tourism sector in Toronto was among those industries taking the hardest hits. Construction businesses were also hit hard.

No one was hit harder, however, than students trying to earn money throughout the summer before going back to school. “The jobless rate for those trying to earn money during the summer break rose sharply to 20.9 per cent – that the highest level since StatsCan began keeping this data in 1977,” writes Acharya-Tom Yew.

At this point, Toronto – along with the rest of Canada – will be forced to wait for the recession roller coaster to ascend once again.

The recession has hit many Canadian businesses hard. It has been well documented that that as a result of the struggling economy, many industries have seen a decline in sales and the overall successes of their businesses.

The automobile industry, of course, has not escaped the nation's financial crisis. However, recent statistics have shown that the auto industry in Canada may be well on its way back to a state of prosperity. A recent report by The Canadian Press explains that Ford happens to be enjoying the best success among all auto makers this year.

According to the report, “Ford claimed top spot in Canadian auto sales for the second month in a row as the number of vehicles it sold in July rose 47.4% above the same month last year. The company (claims sales of ) 26,788 vehicles in July. The number of trucks sold by Ford was up 59.9% to 21,668 while car sales rose 10.9% to 5,120.”

Such results bring about great hope for Canadian auto makers. With Ford having an increase in sales, there is now evidence that supports the idea that Canadians are spending money more confidently again. Already, “total year-to-date sales for Ford in Canada are 2.3% higher than at the same time last year.”

General Motors and Toyota Canada Inc. followed Ford as Canada's most successful auto makers so far in 2009, even though these two companies are still in the process of reclaiming the sales numbers that they achieved in 2008.

The Canadian Press report notes that GM's sales are down by 41.6% while Toyota's sales are down by 12.5%. There was some promising news for Toyota, however. Their Lexus models sold 1,512 cars in July which marked a 13.9% boost, as there was a significant increase in sport-utility vehicle sales which is up by 87.1%.

Clearly, the auto industry is not completely out of the woods yet. But there is hope that it is headed in a direction that will improve the overall economic situation in Canada in the near future.

It is not uncommon for Canadian business owners to be concerned about their cash flows. Ensuring that you have enough money for the day to day needs of your business is a practice that only makes practical sense. There are a number of ways to go about sustaining sufficient cash flow. Tax evasion, however, is not one of them.

According to a recent article by The Canadian Press: “One of every four Canadian businesses that collect GST fail to turn the money over to the federal government on time, often because they want to improve their own cash flow…The most common reason for failure to meet filing obligations was ensuring funds on hand didn’t run dry.”

A recent report, using statistical information from 2007, discovered that there were 776,000 businesses with “unresolved” accounts, meaning that one or more of their scheduled GST payments to the government was past due.

This, of course, provides an unfair advantage to tardy business owners who do not submit their GST remittances on time. As the report notes, it is no different than borrowing money past the deadline that it is due. This extra cash flow – likely seen as a benefit to making late tax payments – doesn't allow for a fair playing field.

The report reveals the astounding number of businesses who seem to utilize this practice: “With 3.2 million businesses authorized to collect the sales tax in trust on Ottawa’s behalf, the non-compliance level means one-quarter of all businesses are benefiting from unauthorized loans from the federal government.”

Needless to say, there is a much more rewarding and guilt-free method of maintaining a business' cash flow. A merchant cash advance allows for small to medium sized businesses across Canada to make their future sales work for them immediately. With the extra capital, not only will businesses attain the cash needed to grow and expand, but the payback method ensures that cash flow is never a problem.

Unlike traditional bank loans, a merchant cash advance requires no regular monthly payments. A small percentage of a company's credit and debit sales serves as the repayment with each batch out. This also allows for sustainable cash flow as no business owner is ever required to make a payment that is more than what is affordable.

Here's an idea. Get yourself a free quote from Synergy Merchant Services. It will certainly help to be a much easier – and legal – method of maintaining your business' cash flow. So call us today…and don't forget to pay your taxes on time!

Just before the holiday weekend, the city of Toronto and the unions representing striking city workers finally came to terms on an agreement that will see the city's garbage picked up for the first time in nearly seven weeks.

In what almost became a major setback last week, a tentative deal with the city was approved by members of both CUPE Local 79 and Local 416 to get city workers back on the job last Friday.

Earlier today, blue and yellow dump trucks could be seen throughout the city tending to heaping piles of garbage that have been accumulating since the strike began on June 22nd. The end to the strike allows for a literal breath of fresh air for Toronto residents who have been inconvenienced with piling trash for their entire summers thus far.

According to a CBC News report last week, Torontonians will be allowed to put out unlimited trash and recycling for the first two pickups. The report also explains how city citizens can get used to the resumption of the pickup schedule for both garbage and recycling:

“Residents should use their regular collection calendar to determine which material (recycling or waste) will be picked up on the first collection day following the resumption of services. In other words, don't put out garbage if the schedule calls for recycling collection.”

This week will also see the resumption of some very important and highly needed services throughout the city. Daycares, swimming pools and summer camps will all be open for business before the week is over. Temporary dump sites should all be cleaned up by this point as well. Cleaning these sites, however, will prove to be among one of the biggest and most cumbersome tasks.

As CBC News reported: “Geoff Rathbone, who manages solid waste services, said more than 25,000 tons of garbage had been collected at 25 temporary dump sites around the city.”

While reports indicate that some bad blood may still exist between Toronto Mayor David Miller and the unions, the rest of the city can finally breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that Tornonto will find some normalcy again. Known for being a clean city, Toronto has been anything but clean for over a month. Perhaps now, the summer can truly begin.

Today saw the end of yet another successful and joyous Caribana. “De Caribana Lime” that took place today at Ontario Place saw 7,000 revellers participate in the last available opportunity to “jump up” offered by Toronto's annual Caribbean festival.

This past Saturday's Caribana Parade – the main event of the festival – drew more than 1.2 million people to Lakeshore Boulevard. As reported last week, Caribana is one of Toronto's greatest tourist attractions and economy boosters each and every year.

Toronto Sun's Jenny Yuen reports today that “this year’s Caribana raked in $300-to-$350 million on events, hotels, restaurants and overall tourism.” Yuen also notes that festival spokesman Alicia Sealey found that the recession did not seem to have much of an impact on what she calls “the power of Caribana”.

“Organizers said attendance wasn’t up this year over last, but it wasn’t down, either. Given the slumping economy, that’s a good thing,” writes Toronto Sun's Brett Clarkson.

On the day of the parade, CTV caught up with Caribana organizer Stephen Weir who discussed the numerous ways in which Caribana provides a boost to the local economy. “They come here for a long period of time and spend money on bars, supplies (and) costumes,” said Weir, “It's a lot more than just paying for a hotel room.”

Tourists travel from all over the world –especially from the U.S. and the Caribbean – to Toronto for Caribana each and every year. This is a fact not at all lost on the tourism industry in Ontario's capital. According to a report on CTV's website, “Toronto Tourism has made promoting Caribana a priority this year, spending $417,000 to market the event in the U.S.”

Evidently, Caribana continues to be more and more successful with each passing year. This has been helped greatly by the increase of corporate sponsors for the event. Scotiabank is currently the event's title sponsor while Research In Motion Ltd. – makers of the Blackberry – is another noted sponsor. Clearly, what is arguably the city's biggest event of the year is only getting bigger.

It is hopeful that the well-needed strengthening of the local economy, as well as the sunshine, brought on by Caribana will be mainstays for the rest of Toronto's summer. That would certainly be worth “jumping up” for.

It looks as if business is supposed to pick up around Toronto. And, by business, we mean garbage. Since June 22nd, city workers represented by CUPE Local 79 and Local 416 have been on strike, forcing Torontotonians to put up with heaping piles of trash in temporary dump sites across the city.

Earlier this week, it was reported that a deal between the city of Toronto and the unions was close to being completed. Toronto Sun's Jonathan Jenkins reports today that “city workers from Local 416 started emptying and putting back into service the 5,000 street-side garbage bins that have been taped shut since a paralyzing strike began 40 days ago.”

For weeks, these curbside garbage bins have been overflowing with items that would otherwise be litter by passers-by. Even with the tape cutting off the entrances for the trash, citizens have managed a way to squeeze as much garbage into these bins as possible. Needless to say, the city has been a mess.

While such bins are being emptied as of today, it still appears as if the city is not out of the woods just yet. The deal to end the strike is apparently still being met with opposition. According to Jenkins' article “Miller Foes 'Disgraceful'”, a number of councillors represented by Responsible Government Group feel that “the deal giving workers a 6% pay increase over three years and phasing out the controversial sick bank instead of ending it outright was an 'obvious departure from what the committee approved'.”

This has left Toronto Mayor David Miller seething.”This morning a group of allegedly responsible councillors said they would vote against this deal, which would cause the strike to continue,” Miller was quoted as saying, “In all (my) years in elected office I have never seen such a disgraceful and unwarranted attack on staff. To suggest our negotiators went outside the mandate is not only untrue, it's irresponsible, it's beneath contempt and it's beneath the very office these people hold.”

Should the deal be voted against, the strike would effectively continue. The city's wish for the resumption of garbage pickup and the opening of pools, recreation programs and day camps would go unrealized.

While members of both CUPE Local 79 and Local 416 have agreed to the deal, members of the RGG insist that they will oppose it.

The date for the end of the strike is therefore, still in question. Sadly, the debate, much like the city, is continuing to get uglier.