OTTAWA — Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz says exports lost due to the financial crisis will not recover, though he's optimistic replacements will eventually step in to fill the void.
For it to happen, however, Poloz says companies that survived the crisis must expand operations and new exporting firms must be created.
In a prepared speech to be delivered Monday, Poloz says recent Bank of Canada research shows the value of Canadian exports from roughly 500 underperforming, non-energy categories has fallen by more than 75 per cent since 2000.
The central banker says those exports would have added $30 billion worth of exports last year had they instead grown along with foreign demand over that period.
He says the downturn has inflicted long-lasting, negative effects on the labour market — giving Canada a job-creation rate well below what should be expected from a healing economy.
Poloz says total hours worked have barely budged and more than 900,000 part-time workers in Canada would prefer full-time positions.
He also says there are around 200,000 young people who are out of work, underemployed or back in school with hope of improving their employment prospects.
Poloz is confident the damage to Canada's job-market can be reversed over time, as the expected demand for exports grows and uncertainty about the future fades.
