Drop Zone
Toronto the crunched By Chris Nuttall-Smith
September 29, 2008: the TSX hits a
millenial low
Image credit: Tara Walton/Toronto Star
Let’s not sugar-coat it: Ontario became a have-not province in 2008. The Canadian dollar plunged more than 20 per cent. Shares in blue chip banks, energy, retail and transport dragged our RRSPs and pension plans deep into discomfort zones. The Detroit Three automakers trundled toward oblivion, while Canada’s finance minister wondered aloud if General Motors should just be allowed to go bust. Bay Street stopped sealing deals (investment bankers didn’t expect to find any Maseratis under the tree). A lot of us stopped shopping and eating out, except at Wal-Mart and McDonald’s, where third-quarter profits rose roughly in proportion to the economy’s pain. We saw recession billboards along the lakeshore (“Stop the market roller coaster. I want off.”), recession restaurant menus, recession commercials and recession pre-Christmas sales.
But before we consider hanging ourselves by our power ties (sales of which have gone up, since no one can afford a new suit), the dawning financial reality isn’t without a silver lining for the city. Real estate at long last verged on feeling affordable again, and all the petulant RRSP avoiders out there finished 2008 looking remarkably un-stupid, for a change. A generation of spoiled teens and 20-somethings suddenly had to contemplate a world without venti mint-mocha-chip Frappuccinos and $400 jeans. A few of those potluck holiday parties even turned out to be fun, in a Grapes of Wrath-ian way. And no matter how bad Toronto got it, we could take comfort in knowing that things were worse almost everywhere else. Like in Alberta: $55-a-barrel oil? Suck it, carbon monkeys.
More from our 2008: Year in Review
• The Temperature: The winners and losers of 2008
• Man of the Year: Richard Florida
• Deja View: Fashion fiends in familiar duds
• Bad Boys: Local lads land in infamy
• Party: A year of boozy bashes
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