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Alex’s Lifestyle Blog

Alex Carrick is Chief Economist for CanaData, Reed Construction Data’s Canadian economic forecasting and statistical service. CanaData’s products include a monthly forecast newsletter, cost indices, regional and custom starts reports and an annual conference. He is a frequent contributor to the Daily Commercial News and the Journal of Commerce. He has delivered presentations throughout North America on the Canadian, United States and world construction outlooks. Mr. Carrick has been with Reed Construction Data Canada since 1985. Previously, he was Secretary-Treasurer and Economist for the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction for thirteen years. A trusted and often-quoted source for the media, Mr. Carrick holds a Masters in Economics.
Read Mr. Carrick's economic analysis at the Economic Outlook special section and Canadian Construction Market News and his commentary on the economic environment at Alex's Economics Blog.

September 29, 2008

Three Cities with a Lot in Common: Calgary, Edmonton and Venice

Cities rise and fall. Currently in Canada, Calgary and Edmonton are bursting with commerce and energy as a result of the construction boom in the nearby Tar Sands. However, events can pass a city by more easily than might seem possible. The story of Venice presents a cautionary tale.

September 25, 2008

How to Get Ahead in this Life

This blog entry comes under the category of fascinating life stories. There are those among us who truly are compulsive and obsessive and others who think we might be. Whenever I start to go down this path, I remember the example of Caravaggio. There was a man who truly lost his head over a single idea. Nevertheless, he is the poster boy for how one can go seriously wrong in this life, but still leave a glorious legacy.

September 22, 2008

Celebrity Greeters at Wal-Mart Continued

In an earlier blog entry, I introduced the possibility of celebrities, when their careers end or hit a dry spell, finding employment as greeters at Wal-Mart. Some of them would have rather obvious opening lines when you walk through the doors to go shopping.

September 16, 2008

The 24-7 Voting Nation (2)

Yesterday, I talked about how the U.S. has become obsessed with voting. The two most obvious examples are in terms of politics and polling. But voting has also taken over the broadcast airwaves through another medium, TV reality shows. Plus there is a final form of voting that might be considered a bad-seed distant relative, or alternatively, an aloof rich uncle, depending on one’s point of view. I'm referring, of course, to certain kinds of gambling.

September 15, 2008

The 24-7 Voting Nation (1)

The United States has become the all-voting, all-the-time nation. Furthermore, this is now taking several forms, from the traditional ballot casting and frontrunner polls, through casting off participants in TV reality shows, and on to the notion that certain kinds of gambling can be interpreted as a variety of voting.

September 8, 2008

Walking Daisy − Over the Dunes and Around the Bend

I walk our dog Daisy along the beach at our cottage early in the morning on weekends and holidays. It’s absolutely gorgeous and mostly quiet and undisturbed, except for one thing − other dog owners and their canine pets. It’s the brotherhood of the dog and there are two problems with this. First, I don’t want to be part of it. And second, Daisy does.

September 2, 2008

SIU Medical Care

Let me begin today by saying that I believe most Canadians are fairly pleased with their government-sponsored health care system. Everybody is covered and you are guaranteed medical attention when you need it. That’s not to say, however, that there aren’t problems.

August 26, 2008

What’s Red, Pretty and Prickly?

The post-WWII baby boom generation is getting older and this means looming health problems. It is a prime reason for expecting strong medical-care and nursing home construction in the years ahead. But this leads me into a story.

August 25, 2008

What’s Happened to Jokes Isn’t Funny

It might just be the crowds that I travel in, but it seems to me that jokes have largely disappeared from the social landscape. But relevant humour can serve a purpose in business. For example, in presentations, the right joke can energize a speaker, wake up an audience and underline a point.

August 7, 2008

Ode to an Audience (Part 3 of 3)

So far, I’ve spent time with the police, then time with the emergency task force and now I can’t find anybody to listen to what I have to say.

August 6, 2008

Ode to an Audience (Part 2 of 3)

This story picks up from yesterday when I started to describe one particularly strange day I had last fall while scheduled to make a public presentation.

August 5, 2008

Ode to an Audience (Part 1 of 3)

I do a lot of public speaking and let me tell you how much I appreciate having an audience, because all of what I’m about to tell you really happened.

July 28, 2008

My Wife and I Argue over a Plant

My wife and I argued over a plant last night and it isn’t even our plant. During our usual de-briefing after a busy day, she told me the following story about her workplace that I think will resonate with many readers. I am changing most of the names to protect the innocent and this is, truly, a tale of innocence and guilt.

July 21, 2008

Doing the Economics Tango

Religion, politics, science, medicine, the weather and social factors are all grist for the economist’s mill.

July 14, 2008

Taking Somebody Else’s Child to the Cottage

On a number of occasions and over quite a span of years, one or another of our three children has invited a young friend to spend the weekend with us at the cottage. This has always been fun, but it has also involved some interesting twists and turns along the way.

July 7, 2008

Which Letter of the Alphabet is the Funniest?

In the movie, The French Connection, the Gene Hackman character asks one of the drug-dealing suspects if he is still “picking his toes in Poughkeepsie?” He knew one of the great secrets of comedy. The letter “p” is the funniest letter in the alphabet.

June 30, 2008

High Finance, Carrick Family Style

Towards the end of May, our daughter, Tammy-Li, needed ten dollars for the “book fair” at her school. This set off a chain reaction of serpentine financial dealings that was awesome in its complexity.

June 23, 2008

A Dozen Ways to Lure American Visitors to Canada

The number of visits by Americans to Canada has dropped way off over the last couple of years. We, as Canadians, have to find ways to turn this situation around. The following are 12 action steps or things to highlight about Canada that will attract U.S. tourists, business associates, relatives and friends back over the border.

June 16, 2008

The Dawning of a Bright New Day – in Garbage Collection

I’m really quite flexible, as long as everything stays the same. But the day I have been dreading has finally arrived. Yesterday, a flyer arrived in the mail from the City of Toronto requiring the Carrick family to decide about our future garbage handling requirements.

June 9, 2008

Death of a Mattress

Nothing symbolizes the start of summer in our neck of cottage country more than a “mattress”. And that’s not due to the strange alchemy and hormonal urges that meld dangerously when sand, sun and teenagers mix. No, it’s rather because June 1st is traditionally “big garbage” day.

June 2, 2008

The Timbit Affair and a List of Bogus Firings

A woman, working in a Tim Hortons donut shop in London Ontario, was recently fired for giving away one free “timbit” to a baby. This has become a public relations nightmare for the company. The “timbit” affair has led me to consider other cases of questionable dismissals. Specifically, let’s ponder on what may be the most bogus reasons to ever be fired.

May 27, 2008

Reasons to Want to be Governor of the Bank of Canada

There are quite a number of reasons that it might be neat to be the Governor of the Bank of Canada. Here are some of them.

May 20, 2008

My Wife can Read my Mind

My wife can read my mind, which makes it easier for her to steal things from me.

May 12, 2008

A Perfect Second Career for Their Golden Years

Over the weekend, I had some fun imagining how certain celebrities and politicians would seem to be ideally suited for second careers, in their golden years, as “greeters” at Wal-Mart. Try to imagine being met by these people and these words on your way into the store.

May 2, 2008

Crawlers and Spiders and the Vanishing Art of Headline Puns

There has been a major casualty of the digital age that you may be noticing only peripherally. Has it entered your consciousness that there are fewer punning headlines anymore? There is a very good reason for this, having to do with “web crawlers” and “spiders”.

April 25, 2008

Coppering the Fleet

Faced with the rapid changes brought about by computers and the Internet, one can easily be fooled into thinking that leaps in technology are something new in the course of human events.

April 24, 2008

Deuteronomy No Longer Describes Canada’s Place in the World

Looking for a “big gulp” experience? Fill up your gas guzzler. With gasoline at $1.20 per litre in Canada, it can bring a lump to your throat and tears to your eyes.

April 14, 2008

Bathroom Humour

There is bathroom humour and then there is “in the bathroom” humour, which may be a form of advertising.

April 7, 2008

Driving Schools: What’s in a Name?

It has often been said that there are two driving seasons in Canada, winter and construction. To take our minds off current driving conditions, my wife and I started batting around potential names for driving schools that might prepare the next generation for the road hazards ahead. Here are the Top 10 names we came up with.

March 17, 2008