Fire, fraud and French’s: Canadian Manufacturing.com’s top stories from 2016
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
Our top 8 stories as selected by readers had one thing in common: they all had a connection to what it is to be a Canadian
Politicians were big news makers in 2016, but CanadianManufacturing.com readers had a taste for something different. PHOTO: Presidencia de la República Mexicana
TORONTO—There hasn’t been a more interesting year to cover the Canadian manufacturing sector than 2016. And while politics has played a bigger role in the industrial economy than in recent years, the stories that caught our readers’ collective eye had one thing in common: they all had some sort of personal angle and a connection to what it is to be a Canadian. This will be our final dispatch of the year. Happy holidays and see you all in 2017.
Honorable Mention
Top CEOs have already earned more in 2016 than average Canadian will all year
Because two of the top eight stories of 2016 made the list twice, we decided to include this one, which was edged out of the top group by a hair. Compensation is always big news for CanadianManufacturing.com readers, and the idea that the country’s best-compensated executives earned $48,636 before they ate lunch on the first day of 2016 attracted a lot of attention.
8
Tax shocker: OXFAM study says 50 biggest U.S. firms stash more than $1T offshore
With Canada struggling to free itself from the grips of recession and facing slow growth, when the now infamous Panama Papers hit the news, readers took a special interest in the idea that corporations are stashing away money at unprecedented levels instead of investing it. Indeed, this isn’t the only time tax avoidance made our top-read list…
7
RBC on the defensive in wake of massive Panama leak, as Ottawa studies lost taxes
Yup, more Panama Papers here. Tax avoidance became a seminal story in 2016, with Prime Minister Trudeau vowing to reign-in aggressive tax-saving schemes.
6
Trudeau gets red-carpet treatment at White House
Speaking of Justin Trudeau, he began his majority mandate in 2016 and immediately embarked on an international Canada-is-awesome tour, where he was lauded by leaders around the world and met with crazed crowds, cementing his reputation as the anti-Harper.
5
French’s connection: Loblaw reverses decision to yank ketchup from stores
It’s confirmed: Canada loves ketchup. We put it on anything, sing songs about it and punish anyone that messes with it, as evidenced in this story where public rage was leveled at an Ontario grocer that tried to take one brand away from us.
4
Fort Mac devastation frays nerves, sends oil prices higher and mobilizes a nation
Canada watched in horror as thousands of people dramatically evacuated Fort McMurray, often driving through columns of fire hundreds of feet tall. The wildfire known ominously as ‘The Beast’ was so devastating it took a chunk out of our national GDP.
3
Massive data leak exposes offshore asset-hiding schemes of world’s political and business elite
As mentioned above, the huge data leak that became known as the Panama Papers made the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca a household name and forced many nations to enact stricter tax control methods.
2
Feds forecast $18.4B deficit, five times greater than earlier projections
When Prime Minister Trudeau took office he brought with him renewed optimism and a budget focused on clean technology and prosperity for all. But the sun quickly set when we found out about this monster deficit.
1
Loblaws stops selling French’s ketchup made with Canadian tomatoes
This was a little unexpected. More readers chose to read this story than any other piece of news we posted this year. Yup, more than Trump, more than trade and more than trucks. Indeed, there are few things more Canadian than ketchup made with local tomatoes (except maybe grabbing your coffee while driving a Zamboni), but this story received special interest because the factory that made the condiment was rescued after ketchup competitor Heinz shuttered the facility and axed all of its 800 workers.
