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112-608: One of 17 Canadian port authorities created by the federal government, Hamilton-Oshawa derives its mandate from the Canada Marine Act . A 2010 study by Martin and Associates revealed that cargo transiting the Port of Hamilton is connected to $ 6 billion in economic activity and 38,000 jobs in the province of Ontario. On April 1, 1912, an Act of Parliament created the Hamilton Harbour Commissioners (HHC) and on May 1, 1912,

224-410: A consideration for federal ports. When the merger was announced there were of variety of views regarding amalgamation. According to Canadian Minister of Transportation, Marc Garneau, through a release from his office the merger will: "Strengthen economic opportunity in the region and will enable a coordinated approach to port development and contribute to broadening multimodal transportation options in

336-478: A crisis of ideas in mainstream economics and within the economics profession, and call for a reshaping of both the economy, economic theory and the economics profession. They argue that such a reshaping should include new advances within feminist economics and ecological economics that take as their starting point the socially responsible, sensible and accountable subject in creating an economy and economic theories that fully acknowledge care for each other as well as

448-530: A diversified mix of cargoes including: In 2006 the Hamilton Port Authority handled 10,282,978 tonnes of steel industry inputs and products which amounted to 79% of the port's tonnage. From 2006 to 2018 the share of tonnage related to the steel industry steadily declined but began stabilizing around 2013 in the 6 to 7 million tonne range. In 2018 the port handled 7,185,596 tonnes of steel industry product which represented 61% of total port tonnage. During

560-640: A fuel depot operated by Petrocor. The City of Oshawa then issued a notice of expropriation for the site in December 2019 as the port authority was working through a purchase. Unlike in Hamilton the question isn't simply the type or number of jobs or the implications of federal ownership. Rather, the City of Oshawa and many local politicians do not want any port employment uses to the west or north of port property so as to preserve property for recreational uses. Hamilton Harbour has

672-444: A greater share of Hamilton's shipping business reaching 20 year highs from 2014–2018. In its first year of amalgamation with HOPA Ports the Port of Oshawa had its best reported year since at least 2007 handling 575,000 tonnes. A number of cruise ships have visited Hamilton over the last decade. From 2010 to at least 2012 Blount Small Ship Adventures made multiple visits annually on their cruise between New York City and Toronto with

784-493: A liquid bulk capacity of about 25,000 tonnes and a dry bulk capacity of 60,000 tonnes in 5 domes and a grain silo. Shortly after amalgamation of the two ports, HOPA Ports CEO Ian Hamilton signalled "dredging, building a ring road, reinforcing the dock wall ... [and creating] a second berth so two ships can be unloaded at the same time" are critical short-term investments for long term growth in Oshawa. The Port of Hamilton handles

896-475: A long history of being a centre of heavy industrial activity dating back over a century. The byproduct of this industrial activity, through eras with lower environmental standards, has been significant pollution perhaps most clearly demonstrated by Randle Reef which is listed as an area of environmental concern by the International Joint Commission . As a result of some of the negative byproducts

1008-516: A mandate to fight marine fires. The port authority had once operated a tugboat with some firefighting ability, but the vessel was no longer operational. The port authority manages 620 acres of waterfront industrial property in Hamilton; however, it is running out of land to advance its financial and economic mandate. In October 2013 former President of the Hamilton Port Authority Bruce Wood publicly mused that if US Steel (Stelco)

1120-490: A minimum, there's a little 'froth' [in the U.S. housing market]...it's hard not to see that there are a lot of local bubbles". The Economist , writing at the same time, went further, saying, "[T]he worldwide rise in house prices is the biggest bubble in history". Real estate bubbles are (by definition of the word "bubble") followed by a price decrease (also known as a housing price crash ) that can result in many owners holding negative equity (a mortgage debt higher than

1232-572: A resolution preventing CFTC from regulating derivatives for another six months — when Born's term of office would expire. Ultimately, it was the collapse of a specific kind of derivative, the mortgage-backed security , that triggered the economic crisis of 2008. Paul Krugman wrote in 2009 that the run on the shadow banking system was the fundamental cause of the crisis. "As the shadow banking system expanded to rival or even surpass conventional banking in importance, politicians and government officials should have realised that they were re-creating

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1344-785: A result of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement , the development of larger container vessels and expansion of deep sea ports in the Maritimes "interlined" shipping to/from Halifax, Port of Saint John , and, if developed, Port of Sydney, Nova Scotia, and inland Great Lakes ports including Hamilton could become viable. There is a significant public interest in increasing the role of short sea shipping in regional logistics. The public interest includes (1) reducing greenhouse gas emissions, (2) lessening traffic congestion on Highway 401 particularly between Montreal and Toronto and (3) maximizing capacity utilization of existing infrastructure,

1456-546: A result, it is not uncommon for port authority's to come into conflict with municipal political leadership whose interests are more local in nature. This is demonstrated in the Port of Oshawa's 2012 Land Use Plan where the authority states "the City Official Plan will be considered, however, where there is a discrepancy between [the port authority] Land Use Plan and the City's Official Plan this Plan shall apply." In other words, municipal planning principles and goals are simply

1568-757: A sharp drop in international trade , rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. Several economists predicted that recovery might not appear until 2011 and that the recession would be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Economist Paul Krugman once commented on this as seemingly the beginning of "a second Great Depression". Governments and central banks responded with fiscal policy and monetary policy initiatives to stimulate national economies and reduce financial system risks. The recession renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas on how to combat recessionary conditions. Economists advise that

1680-510: A tool for taking excessive risks. Examples of vulnerabilities in the public sector included: statutory gaps and conflicts between regulators; ineffective use of regulatory authority; and ineffective crisis management capabilities. Bernanke also discussed " Too big to fail " institutions, monetary policy, and trade deficits. There are several "narratives" attempting to place the causes of the recession into context, with overlapping elements. Five such narratives include: Underlying narratives #1–3

1792-669: A tremendous boost in shipping to Hamilton industry. Anticipating the arrival of larger Great Lakes vessels and ocean freighters, the Commissioners had already widened and deepened the canal entrance from Lake Ontario into Hamilton Harbour. In order to accommodate the huge ore and coal ships which now had direct access to Harbour waters, the Steel Company of Canada and the Hamilton By-Product Coke Ovens constructed larger docks. The result: between 1929 and 1934 total tonnage in

1904-413: Is a hypothesis that growing income inequality and wage stagnation encouraged families to increase their household debt to maintain their desired living standard, fueling the bubble. Further, this greater share of income flowing to the top increased the political power of business interests, who used that power to deregulate or limit regulation of the shadow banking system. Narrative #5 challenges

2016-491: Is a product of over a century of heavy industrial activity as well as lax environmental regulation and enforcement which allowed heavy industry to dump industrial waste directly into the harbour. The total "mass" of coal tar in Hamilton Harbour exceeds Sydney Tar Ponds by about 200,000 tonnes. In order to address pollution in Hamilton Harbour caused by Randle Reef HOPA Ports has teamed up with government partners, primarily

2128-565: Is also not part of this system. The Welland Canal , which is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway , falls to Fisheries and Oceans Canada , and is regulated under the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act (R.S., 1985, c. F-24). Port Dalhousie is subject to the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Regulations , while Port Colborne falls under the Ontario Fishery Regulations . Responsibility for

2240-463: Is currently in the midst of a public engagement process for Fisherman's Wharf in Hamilton. The port is engaging the public to develop plans to reconceive Fisherman's Wharf. Randle Reef is an area in Hamilton Harbour adjacent to piers 14 and 15 which is approximately 60 hectares in size or about the size of 120 football fields. It consists of large amounts of coal tar which has high concentrations of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons . The reef

2352-495: Is divided between the west harbour on piers 8 to 15 which house among other facilities a large fuel depot, an agri-food cluster on pier 10 and the east harbour on piers 22 to 29 which have multiple agri-food terminals. The port has a grain storage capacity of 100,000 tonnes, a liquid bulk capacity of 200,000 tonnes spread across 125 liquid bulk tanks, 2.5 million square feet of warehouse space, 15 wharves and 8.4 km of St. Lawrence Seaway maximum depth dock walls. The Port of Oshawa

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2464-426: Is high local demand for access whether to port property or adjacent properties which can be affected by port activity. In Hamilton local Councillors and environmental organizations have sought public access to Sherman Inlet. The Hamilton Port Authority had initially agreed to grant public access in 2007 but for security reasons later changed their position. In Oshawa the local community has had long-standing access to

2576-454: Is serviced by Oshawa Stevedores and has a rail spur to the CN mainline a kilometre or two north of the harbour. The port is divided between a West Wharf and a St. Lawrence Seaway depth East Wharf which handles many of the same commodities Hamilton does. In comparison to the Port of Hamilton the Port of Oshawa is quite small. The port's storage facilities include 75,000 square feet of warehouse space,

2688-463: Is the timing. Subprime lending increased from around 10% of mortgage origination historically to about 20% only from 2004 to 2006, with housing prices peaking in 2006. Blaming affordable housing regulations established in the 1990s for a sudden spike in subprime origination is problematic at best. A more proximate government action to the sudden rise in subprime lending was the SEC relaxing lending standards for

2800-503: The American Enterprise Institute , which advocates for private enterprise and limited government, have asserted that private lenders were encouraged to relax lending standards by government affordable housing policies. They cite The Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, which initially required that 30 percent or more of Fannie's and Freddie's loan purchases be related to affordable housing. The legislation gave HUD

2912-478: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission , put forth a policy paper asking for feedback from regulators, lobbyists, and legislators on the question of whether derivatives should be reported, sold through a central facility, or whether capital requirements should be required of their buyers. Greenspan, Rubin, and Levitt pressured her to withdraw the paper and Greenspan persuaded Congress to pass

3024-662: The IMF criteria for being a global recession only in the single calendar year 2009. That IMF definition requires a decline in annual real world GDP per‑capita . Despite the fact that quarterly data are being used as recession definition criteria by all G20 members , representing 85% of the world GDP , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided—in the absence of a complete data set—not to declare/measure global recessions according to quarterly GDP data. The seasonally adjusted PPP ‑weighted real GDP for

3136-431: The International Joint Commission . Sherman Inlet is a wetland located between pier 14 and pier 15. In the early 2000s it was infilled but in 2017 Hamilton Port Authority began a process of rehabilitating the inlet which is one of the few remaining inlets which dominated Hamilton Harbour prior to 20th century harbour infill. Efforts have included shoreline reconstruction and the introduction of bee hives to help pollinate

3248-468: The subprime mortgage crisis . The combination of banks being unable to provide funds to businesses, and homeowners paying down debt rather than borrowing and spending, resulted in the Great Recession that began in the U.S. officially in December 2007 and lasted until June 2009, thus extending over 19 months. As with most other recessions, it appears that no known formal theoretical or empirical model

3360-429: The 19th and early 20th centuries, the current banking panic is a wholesale panic, not a retail panic. In the earlier episodes, depositors ran to their banks and demanded cash in exchange for their checking accounts. Unable to meet those demands, the banking system became insolvent. The current panic involved financial firms "running" on other financial firms by not renewing sale and repurchase agreements (repo) or increasing

3472-416: The 19th century. Yet, over the past 30-plus years, we permitted the growth of a shadow banking system – opaque and laden with short term debt – that rivaled the size of the traditional banking system. Key components of the market – for example, the multitrillion-dollar repo lending market, off-balance-sheet entities, and the use of over-the-counter derivatives – were hidden from view, without

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3584-537: The FCIC Republican minority dissenting report also concluded that U.S. housing policies were not a robust explanation for a wider global housing bubble. The hypothesis that a primary cause of the crisis was U.S. government housing policy requiring banks to make risky loans has been widely disputed, with Paul Krugman referring to it as "imaginary history". One of the other challenges with blaming government regulations for essentially forcing banks to make risky loans

3696-521: The Federal Reserve has been widely discussed, the main point of controversy remains the lowering of the Federal funds rate to 1% for more than a year, which, according to Austrian theorists , injected huge amounts of "easy" credit-based money into the financial system and created an unsustainable economic boom. There is an argument that Greenspan's actions in the years 2002–2004 were actually motivated by

3808-416: The Federal Reserve. Further, American International Group (AIG) had insured mortgage-backed and other securities but was not required to maintain sufficient reserves to pay its obligations when debtors defaulted on these securities. AIG was contractually required to post additional collateral with many creditors and counter-parties, touching off controversy when over $ 100 billion of U.S. taxpayer money

3920-624: The G20‑;zone, however, is a good indicator for the world GDP, and it was measured to have suffered a direct quarter on quarter decline during the three quarters from Q3‑2008 until Q1‑2009, which more accurately mark when the recession took place at the global level. According to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) the recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, and thus extended over eighteen months. The years leading up to

4032-560: The Golden Horseshoe and the Port of Montreal and Port of Halifax . The port sees short sea shipping as a way to capture a share of the growth in regional road and rail shipping to and from eastern Canadian container ports . In 2015 27% of the Port of Montreal's expanding container shipping volume came from or was destined for Ontario with much of the trade volume shipped by transport truck down Highway 401 . With increased Canada–Europe trade as

4144-506: The Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Hamilton, to build a $ 140 million Engineered Containment Facility. The containment facility is designed to capture the industrial waste for a period of 200 years. Scheduled to be completed in 2022 the 7 hectare containment facility will be converted to port uses and could lead to Hamilton Harbour being removed as an Area of Concern by

4256-629: The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system continue to advance the idea of short sea shipping generally, through initiatives such as the Highway H2O marketing campaign, as most Great Lakes ports see potential for an increased, less commodity/industry specific role in regional logistics for marine traffic. Increasingly, government is also seeing the role increased regional maritime shipping can play in offsetting pressure on other infrastructure such as Highway 401 by allowing underutilized infrastructure such as

4368-529: The Greater Golden Horseshoe continues in the coming decades the port could see significant growth in import led agri-food business for commodities and products Ontario can't or doesn't produce. In June 2019 Sucro Sourcing opened the first sugar refinery built in Canada since 1958 on Pier 10 and imports inputs for its refinery. While comparatively small components of the Port of Hamilton's shipping business,

4480-502: The Greater Toronto Area." However, a variety of municipal and provincial politicians from Hamilton and Oshawa expressed concern over the implications of the merger. Ontario's Minister of Environment, Jeff Yurek, stated "there is simply no evidence to give reason to believe [the port merger] can possibly meet [the federal government's] stated goals of strengthening Ontario's supply chain and improving port efficiencies and planning in

4592-678: The MV Grand Mariner. In 2020 the Great Lakes Cruising Company is running a cruise between Chicago and Hamilton on the MV Victory I . The Port of Hamilton is the primary commercial port in the Golden Horseshoe. In 2017 the Golden Horseshoe's other federally governed commercial ports handled less than 3 million tonnes combined as the Port of Toronto handled 2,172,750 tonnes of cargo while the Port of Oshawa handled 408,567 tonnes. By tonnage Hamilton and Oshawa combined are about 6 times

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4704-625: The Ottawa River . Most of the other heritage waterways of Ontario and a few in Quebec are governed by Parks Canada under the guidance of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change . The Act is, from time to time, supplemented by regulations and letters patent published in the Canada Gazette . A list of recent publications is maintained by Transport Canada , which documents, among other things,

4816-632: The St. Lawrence Seaway, which is currently only operating at about 50% capacity. In a report submitted in February 2019 to the Canadian Parliament entitled "Establishing a Canadian Transportation and Logistics Strategy" recommendations included increasing usage of the seaway to reduce transportation bottlenecks. As of 2019, regular short sea container shipping between Hamilton and eastern Canadian, deep water ports has not been realized. However, most major ports in

4928-738: The Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy," dated November 15, 2008, leaders of the Group of 20 cited the following causes: During a period of strong global growth, growing capital flows, and prolonged stability earlier this decade, market participants sought higher yields without an adequate appreciation of the risks and failed to exercise proper due diligence. At the same time, weak underwriting standards, unsound risk management practices, increasingly complex and opaque financial products, and consequent excessive leverage combined to create vulnerabilities in

5040-544: The US, from $ 106,591 to $ 68,839 between 2005 and 2011. The US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission , composed of six Democratic and four Republican appointees, reported its majority findings in January 2011. It concluded that "the crisis was avoidable and was caused by: There were two Republican dissenting FCIC reports. One of them, signed by three Republican appointees, concluded that there were multiple causes. In his separate dissent to

5152-534: The United States, and 21% in Denmark. Household defaults, underwater mortgages (where the loan balance exceeds the house value), foreclosures, and fire sales are now endemic to a number of economies. Household deleveraging by paying off debts or defaulting on them has begun in some countries. It has been most pronounced in the United States, where about two-thirds of the debt reduction reflects defaults." The onset of

5264-497: The West Wharf pier. However, in 2017, a tugboat positioning a freighter on the West Wharf had to release its fixed line which hit the pier, ripped of the railing and could have seriously injured or killed people who were on the pier at the time. After an initial period of closure due to public safety and liability concerns the pier was fully reopened to the public in 2018. In order to address the issue of community waterfront access HOPA

5376-513: The academic definition, the recession ended in the United States in June or July 2009. Journalist Robert Kuttner has argued that 'The Great Recession' is a misnomer. According to Kuttner, "recessions are mild dips in the business cycle that are either self-correcting or soon cured by modest fiscal or monetary stimulus. Because of the continuing deflationary trap, it would be more accurate to call this decade's stagnant economy The Lesser Depression or The Great Deflation." The Great Recession met

5488-438: The area. Canada Marine Act The Canada Marine Act ( CMA ; French : Loi maritime du Canada ) was passed in 1998 under the stewardship of David Collenette , who was Canada's Minister of Transport at that time. It was intended to modernize Canada's most important ports and make "the system of Canadian ports competitive, efficient and commercially oriented, providing for the establishing of port authorities and

5600-460: The bailout measures started under the Bush administration and continued during his administration as completed and mostly profitable as of December 2014 . As of January 2018 , bailout funds had been fully recovered by the government, when interest on loans is taken into consideration. A total of $ 626B was invested, loaned, or granted due to various bailout measures, while $ 390B had been returned to

5712-517: The bailouts. In 2008, TARP allocated $ 426.4 billion to various major financial institutions. However, the US collected $ 441.7 billion in return from these loans in 2010, recording a profit of $ 15.3 billion. Nonetheless, there was a political shift from the Democratic party. Examples include the rise of the Tea Party and the loss of Democratic majorities in subsequent elections. President Obama declared

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5824-472: The chair of the board, while in consultation with the minister, the remaining board members are selected by users of the port. A user is determined as specified under the legislation, and cannot include city councillors, civil servants or directors of port customers. Each authority by now should have its own domain name website, at which can most likely be found copies of the letters patent and other legal documents. Great Recession The Great Recession

5936-477: The city's industrial history and a desire to cleanup the local environment and reputation there was significant opposition to a port leaseholder's proposal to build a waste gasification facility on Pier 15. In Oshawa, similar conflict occurred between HOPA's predecessor – the Oshawa Port Authority – and local residents and municipal politicians. In Oshawa's case an ethanol company, FarmTech, had agreed with

6048-589: The construction and operation of canals had been given to the Department of Public Works at the time of Canadian Confederation , with the canals of the Province of Canada having been previously operated by that colony's Department of Public Works. Since 1995, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement , formerly the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, has taken care of these affairs. A vestigial reminder of

6160-453: The crisis were characterized by an exorbitant rise in asset prices and associated boom in economic demand. Further, the U.S. shadow banking system (i.e., non-depository financial institutions such as investment banks) had grown to rival the depository system yet was not subject to the same regulatory oversight, making it vulnerable to a bank run . US mortgage-backed securities , which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around

6272-668: The crisis) and vulnerabilities (i.e., structural weaknesses in the financial system, regulation and supervision) that amplified the shocks. Examples of triggers included: losses on subprime mortgage securities that began in 2007 and a run on the shadow banking system that began in mid-2007, which adversely affected the functioning of money markets. Examples of vulnerabilities in the private sector included: financial institution dependence on unstable sources of short-term funding such as repurchase agreements or Repos; deficiencies in corporate risk management; excessive use of leverage (borrowing to invest); and inappropriate usage of derivatives as

6384-442: The current value of the property). Several sources have noted the failure of the US government to supervise or even require transparency of the financial instruments known as derivatives . Derivatives such as credit default swaps (CDSs) were unregulated or barely regulated. Michael Lewis noted CDSs enabled speculators to stack bets on the same mortgage securities. This is analogous to allowing many persons to buy insurance on

6496-547: The decline in the steel industry after the Great Recession of 2008 the port diversified and has seen significant growth in the agri-food industry which has necessitated the construction of a number of food processing and storage facilities in the port. From 2006 to 2018 agricultural products passing through the port grew from 492,272 tonnes to 3,512,444 tonnes. Agri-food has grown from 3–4% of port tonnage in 2006 to about 30% of total port traffic in 2018. As population growth in

6608-579: The divesting of certain harbours and ports, for the commercialization of the St. Lawrence Seaway and ferry services and other matters related to maritime trade and transport and amending the Pilotage Act and amending and repealing other Acts as a consequence." The Act designated 19 ports as economically significant. Each of those ports was to have a port authority created for it. The Act made provisions to allow additional ports to have port authorities created to oversee their operation. The Act downloaded

6720-517: The downturn. In advanced economies, during the five years preceding 2007, the ratio of household debt to income rose by an average of 39 percentage points, to 138 percent. In Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway, debt peaked at more than 200 percent of household income. A surge in household debt to historic highs also occurred in emerging economies such as Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania. The concurrent boom in both house prices and

6832-608: The economic crisis took most people by surprise. A 2009 paper identifies twelve economists and commentators who, between 2000 and 2006, predicted a recession based on the collapse of the then-booming housing market in the United States: Dean Baker , Wynne Godley , Fred Harrison , Michael Hudson , Eric Janszen , Med Jones Steve Keen , Jakob Brøchner Madsen , Jens Kjaer Sørensen, Kurt Richebächer , Nouriel Roubini , Peter Schiff , and Robert Shiller . By 2007, real estate bubbles were still under way in many parts of

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6944-405: The economic headwinds that slowed the recovery: On the political front, widespread anger at banking bailouts and stimulus measures (begun by President George W. Bush and continued or expanded by President Obama ) with few consequences for banking leadership, were a factor in driving the country politically rightward starting in 2010. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was the largest of

7056-471: The fall of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, a major panic broke out on the inter-bank loan market. There was the equivalent of a bank run on the shadow banking system , resulting in many large and well established investment banks and commercial banks in the United States and Europe suffering huge losses and even facing bankruptcy, resulting in massive public financial assistance (government bailouts). The global recession that followed resulted in

7168-457: The financial system, along with a series of triggering events that began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble in 2005–2012. When housing prices fell and homeowners began to abandon their mortgages, the value of mortgage-backed securities held by investment banks declined in 2007–2008, causing several to collapse or be bailed out in September 2008. This 2007–2008 phase was called

7280-479: The first three Harbour Commissioners, George J. Guy, Hugh S. Wallace and William J. Clark took their oaths of office. The Port of Hamilton grew throughout the 20th century, in service to Hamilton's two major steel producers, Steel Company of Canada , and Dominion Steel Castings Company , as well as Hamilton's robust manufacturing economy. The long-awaited completion of the Welland Ship Canal in 1932 brought

7392-450: The following recovery weaker. Robert Reich claims the amount of debt in the US economy can be traced to economic inequality , assuming that middle-class wages remained stagnant while wealth concentrated at the top, and households "pull equity from their homes and overload on debt to maintain living standards". The IMF reported in April 2012: "Household debt soared in the years leading up to

7504-495: The harbour doubled from one to two million tonnes annually, making Hamilton the fourth-busiest port in the country, behind Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. When the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, the first ship travelling up the new system berthed in Hamilton. Cargo tonnage after the first year of Seaway operation was higher in Hamilton than at any other Canadian or American Port on the Great Lakes. The Hamilton Harbour Police

7616-453: The harbour to be used "for advanced manufacturing and job producing production " indicating some skepticism of the labour intensity and value of port jobs to the city. This is evidenced by the fact Dofasco has around 5,000 employees on 800 acres of land where port authority tenants employ about 2,100 on 620 acres of land. In spite of some opposition from Hamilton's Mayor, Bruce Wood's successor Ian Hamilton has also been vocal in signalling that

7728-467: The inflow of investment dollars required to fund the U.S. trade deficit was a major cause of the housing bubble and financial crisis: "The trade deficit, less than 1% of GDP in the early 1990s, hit 6% in 2006. That deficit was financed by inflows of foreign savings, in particular from East Asia and the Middle East. Much of that money went into dodgy mortgages to buy overvalued houses, and the financial crisis

7840-533: The kind of financial vulnerability that made the Great Depression possible – and they should have responded by extending regulations and the financial safety net to cover these new institutions. Influential figures should have proclaimed a simple rule: anything that does what a bank does, anything that has to be rescued in crises the way banks are, should be regulated like a bank." He referred to this lack of controls as "malign neglect". During 2008, three of

7952-660: The land transactions of the various Port Authorities. The equivalent phrase to the English "Port Authority" is the French Administration Portuaire , so that one would perform an online search for "Administration Portuaire de Saguenay" or other Quebec emplacements. A list of board member appointments to port authorities can be found at the respective individual Governor in Council Appointments web pages of each organisation. The Minister of Transport alone appoints

8064-568: The largest U.S. investment banks either went bankrupt ( Lehman Brothers ) or were sold at fire sale prices to other banks ( Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch ). The investment banks were not subject to the more stringent regulations applied to depository banks. These failures exacerbated the instability in the global financial system. The remaining two investment banks, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs , potentially facing failure, opted to become commercial banks, thereby subjecting themselves to more stringent regulation but receiving access to credit via

8176-530: The main headline is that all sorts of poor countries became kind of rich, making things like TVs and selling us oil. China, India, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia made a lot of money and banked it." Describing the crisis in Europe, Paul Krugman wrote in February 2012 that: "What we're basically looking at, then, is a balance of payments problem, in which capital flooded south after the creation of the euro, leading to overvaluation in southern Europe." Another narrative about

8288-462: The majority and minority opinions of the FCIC, Commissioner Peter J. Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) primarily blamed U.S. housing policy, including the actions of Fannie and Freddie , for the crisis. He wrote: "When the bubble began to deflate in mid-2007, the low quality and high risk loans engendered by government policies failed in unprecedented numbers." In its "Declaration of

8400-543: The mandate to oversee the operation of 150 smaller ports to the provinces or municipalities in which they were contained. Thirty-four remote ports remain under direct supervision by the Department of Transport . An exception was made for the port facilities at Churchill, Manitoba , North America's only port on the Arctic Ocean connected to the North American Railroad grid . The Port of Sydney, Nova Scotia ,

8512-662: The need to take the U.S. economy out of the early 2000s recession caused by the bursting of the dot-com bubble : although by doing so he did not avert the crisis, but only postponed it. Another narrative focuses on high levels of private debt in the US economy. USA household debt as a percentage of annual disposable personal income was 127% at the end of 2007, versus 77% in 1990. Faced with increasing mortgage payments as their adjustable rate mortgage payments increased, households began to default in record numbers, rendering mortgage-backed securities worthless. High private debt levels also impact growth by making recessions deeper and

8624-535: The obligation and defaulted; U.S. taxpayers paid over $ 100 billion to global financial institutions to honor AIG obligations, generating considerable outrage. A 2008 investigative article in The Washington Post found leading government officials at the time (Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan , Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin , and SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt ) vehemently opposed any regulation of derivatives. In 1998, Brooksley E. Born , head of

8736-484: The origin has been focused on the respective parts played by public monetary policy (notably in the US) and by the practices of private financial institutions. In the U.S., mortgage funding was unusually decentralised, opaque, and competitive, and it is believed that competition between lenders for revenue and market share contributed to declining underwriting standards and risky lending. While Alan Greenspan's role as Chairman of

8848-453: The past is that the Ottawa River , which once was an important part of the economy with for example the Ottawa River timber trade , and "all canals or other cuttings for facilitating such navigation, and all dams, slides, piers, booms, embankments and other works of what kind or nature soever in the channel or waters" is wholly governed under this Ministry's An Act respecting certain works on

8960-530: The planet. Though no one knew they were in it at the time, the Great Recession had a significant economic and political impact on the United States. While the recession technically lasted from December 2007 – June 2009 (the nominal GDP trough), many important economic variables did not regain pre-recession (November or Q4 2007) levels until 2011–2016. For example, real GDP fell $ 650 billion (4.3%) and did not recover its $ 15 trillion pre-recession level until Q3 2011. Household net worth, which reflects

9072-518: The popular claim (narrative #4) that subprime borrowers with shoddy credit caused the crisis by buying homes they couldn't afford. This narrative is supported by new research showing that the biggest growth of mortgage debt during the U.S. housing boom came from those with good credit scores in the middle and top of the credit score distribution—and that these borrowers accounted for a disproportionate share of defaults. The Economist wrote in July 2012 that

9184-486: The port authority to build an ethanol facility on port lands. However, after failing to allow the facility to move forward due to significant local opposition, the port authority had to pick up the cheque for a 4 million dollar arbitration award that was awarded against them. The result called into question the short-term financial viability of the port as they were found to have almost 6 million dollars in total liabilities. There has also been long-standing local opposition to

9296-484: The port authority will be pursuing surplus steel lands should they be sold by US Steel successor Bedrock Industries in opposition to the Mayor's desire to purchase the lands to give the city control over what would otherwise be federal lands. In Oshawa, HOPA Ports has also been competing with the municipality for land. On November 15, 2019, the port authority began the purchase of a site adjacent to its property which once housed

9408-456: The port has seen significant declines in its breakbulk and liquid bulk business from highs in the early 2000s. Partial recovery has occurred in the breakbulk category with relatively consistent annual increases from 2009 to 2018 but liquid bulk tonnage (chemicals, fuels, etc.) in 2018 was 62.5% of what it was in 2006. Reflecting decline in some domestic industry and the increased importance of international markets, overseas shipping has represented

9520-455: The port, or at least its economic development mandate, due to its proximity to neighbouring Second Marsh and position between two conservation areas. The City of Oshawa and the port have been in a long running battle, ostensibly, over the extension of Harbour Road and the maintenance of a property buffer on port lands between port industrial/logistics uses and Second Marsh. As a result of the prime, waterfront real estate federal ports occupy there

9632-512: The power to set future requirements. These rose to 42 percent in 1995 and 50 percent in 2000, and by 2008 a 56 percent minimum was established. However, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) Democratic majority report concluded that Fannie & Freddie "were not a primary cause" of the crisis and that CRA was not a factor in the crisis. Further, since housing bubbles appeared in multiple countries in Europe as well,

9744-410: The protections we had constructed to prevent financial meltdowns. We had a 21st-century financial system with 19th-century safeguards. The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (1999), which reduced the regulation of banks by allowing commercial and investment banks to merge, has also been blamed for the crisis, by Nobel Prize –winning economist Joseph Stiglitz among others. Peter Wallison and Edward Pinto of

9856-402: The recession have been described as a symptom of another, deeper crisis by a number of economists. For example, Ravi Batra argues that growing inequality of financial capitalism produces speculative bubbles that burst and result in depression and major political changes . Feminist economists Ailsa McKay and Margunn Bjørnholt argue that the financial crisis and the response to it revealed

9968-488: The recovery was that both individuals and businesses paid down debts for several years, as opposed to borrowing and spending or investing as had historically been the case. This shift to a private sector surplus drove a sizable government deficit. However, the federal government held spending at about $ 3.5 trillion from fiscal years 2009–2014 (thereby decreasing it as a percent of GDP), a form of austerity . Then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke explained during November 2012 several of

10080-465: The region." Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter expressed concern around the influence of the Port of Hamilton in a merged port authority given its relative size and distance from Oshawa. According to Carter, "I think that it's important that it's not just Hamilton that has all the voice. I think it's important both of them have an equal voice at the table if we're going to have a healthy relationship." By contrast Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said "the combination of

10192-427: The regional and national economy. The Port of Hamilton houses multiple terminal operations providing storage and transloading of dry bulk and liquid bulk commodities, breakbulk and project cargo . The port is served by two stevedores : Federal Marine Terminals and Great Lakes Stevedoring. It is also serviced by two Class-1 North American railways: Canadian National and Canadian Pacific . The Port of Hamilton

10304-461: The repo margin ("haircut"), forcing massive deleveraging, and resulting in the banking system being insolvent. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reported in January 2011: In the early part of the 20th century, we erected a series of protections – the Federal Reserve as a lender of last resort , federal deposit insurance, ample regulations – to provide a bulwark against the panics that had regularly plagued America's banking system in

10416-496: The same house. Speculators that bought CDS protection were betting significant mortgage security defaults would occur, while the sellers (such as AIG ) bet they would not. An unlimited amount could be wagered on the same housing-related securities, provided buyers and sellers of the CDS could be found. When massive defaults occurred on underlying mortgage securities, companies like AIG that were selling CDS were unable to perform their side of

10528-409: The seaway to capture a greater share of the modal split between major, inter-provincial population centres. Ports operated by federal port authorities – as strategic infrastructure – are tasked with facilitating regional economic growth while being financially self-sufficient. Municipalities on the other hand are responsible for local economic growth and are directly accountable to local communities. As

10640-574: The size of the Port of Toronto. Hamilton is also the busiest port in Ontario and the 7th busiest port on the Great Lakes. In 2017 Hamilton was also the 7th busiest Canadian port authority behind Vancouver, Montreal, Saint John, Quebec City, Prince Rupert and Sept-Iles. Like many major Great Lakes ports Hamilton is a bulk and breakbulk port. It imports/exports large project cargo components such as windmill blades and handles salt, agri-food commodities, fertilizers, fuels and assorted inputs and finished product for

10752-529: The southern Mississippi River ports and even major inland ports like the Twin Ports in Duluth . In 2017 it had a similar volume to the smallest of the top 50 busiest ports in the United States. Beginning in the early 2000s the Port of Hamilton began investigating the viability of a variety of shipping routes to allow the port to expand into regular, containerized short sea shipping between producers and consumers in

10864-621: The steel industry. In comparison to the Port of Thunder Bay , Ontario's second busiest port, Hamilton is much more reliant on the steel industry than Thunder Bay which relies on agricultural commodities from the Prairies . In 2018 approximately 60% of Hamilton's tonnage was steel industry inputs and products and 85% of Thunder Bay's tonnage was Prairie grains. As a freshwater, regional port still largely dominated by one industry, Hamilton does not rank with major North American ports such as Houston, Long Beach–Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York–New Jersey,

10976-518: The stimulus measures such as quantitative easing (pumping money into the system) and holding down central bank wholesale lending interest rate should be withdrawn as soon as economies recover enough to "chart a path to sustainable growth ". The distribution of household incomes in the United States became more unequal during the post-2008 economic recovery . Income inequality in the United States grew from 2005 to 2012 in more than two thirds of metropolitan areas. Median household wealth fell 35% in

11088-649: The stock market meant that household debt relative to assets held broadly stable, which masked households' growing exposure to a sharp fall in asset prices. When house prices declined, ushering in the global financial crisis, many households saw their wealth shrink relative to their debt, and, with less income and more unemployment, found it harder to meet mortgage payments. By the end of 2011, real house prices had fallen from their peak by about 41% in Ireland, 29% in Iceland, 23% in Spain and

11200-490: The system. Policy-makers, regulators and supervisors, in some advanced countries, did not adequately appreciate and address the risks building up in financial markets, keep pace with financial innovation, or take into account the systemic ramifications of domestic regulatory actions. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke testified in September 2010 before the FCIC regarding the causes of the crisis. He wrote that there were shocks or triggers (i.e., particular events that touched off

11312-492: The top investment banks during an April 2004 meeting with bank leaders. These banks increased their risk-taking shortly thereafter, significantly increasing their purchases and securitization of lower-quality mortgages, thus encouraging additional subprime and Alt-A lending by mortgage companies. This action by its investment bank competitors also resulted in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac taking on more risk. The financial crisis and

11424-422: The two port authorities would allow the new entity to boost growth and improve southern Ontario's access to global markets." There have also been jurisdiction and capacity issues around the port. In 2013 a controversy was triggered when no organization in Hamilton was available to fight a highly visible marine fire. According to CBC News, neither Hamilton Fire Services or Hamilton Police Service thought they had

11536-515: The value of both stock markets and housing prices, fell $ 11.5 trillion (17.3%) and did not regain its pre-recession level of $ 66.4 trillion until Q3 2012. The number of persons with jobs (total non-farm payrolls) fell 8.6 million (6.2%) and did not regain the pre-recession level of 138.3 million until May 2014. The unemployment rate peaked at 10.0% in October 2009 and did not return to its pre-recession level of 4.7% until May 2016. A key dynamic slowing

11648-453: The word "recession" exist: one sense referring definitively to "a period of reduced economic activity" and ongoing hardship; and the more allegoric interpretation used in economics , which is defined operationally , referring specifically to the contraction phase of a business cycle , with two or more consecutive quarters of GDP contraction (negative GDP growth rate) and typically used to influence abrupt changes in monetary policy. Under

11760-660: The world, especially in the United States , France, the United Kingdom , Spain , the Netherlands, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand , Ireland , Poland , South Africa , Greece , Bulgaria , Croatia , Norway , Singapore , South Korea , Sweden , Finland , Argentina , the Baltic states , India , Romania , Ukraine and China . U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in mid-2005 that "at

11872-454: The world, as they offered higher yields than U.S. government bonds. Many of these securities were backed by subprime mortgages, which collapsed in value when the U.S. housing bubble burst during 2006 and homeowners began to default on their mortgage payments in large numbers starting in 2007. The emergence of subprime loan losses in 2007 began the crisis and exposed other risky loans and over-inflated asset prices. With loan losses mounting and

11984-504: Was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At the time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that it was the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression . The causes of the Great Recession include a combination of vulnerabilities that developed in

12096-718: Was able to accurately predict the advance of this recession, except for minor signals in the sudden rise of forecast probabilities, which were still well under 50%. The recession was not felt equally around the world; whereas most of the world's developed economies , particularly in North America, South America and Europe, fell into a severe, sustained recession, many more recently developing economies suffered far less impact, particularly China , India and Indonesia , whose economies grew substantially during this period. Similarly, Oceania suffered minimal impact , in part due to its proximity to Asian markets. Two interpretations of

12208-615: Was formed in 1921 to provide policing services for the Hamilton Harbour Commission in Hamilton. It was disbanded in 1986 and its duties were transferred to the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police . Under the Canada Marine Act and the port authority's letters patent it is tasked with facilitating the regional economy and managing port lands in an environmentally and financially sustainable way to support

12320-481: Was going to close its last steel mill in Hamilton it was an opportunity for the port authority to buy the 328 hectares (810 acres) Stelco occupies and repurpose it to create new jobs on the brownfields . HOPA's vision of land use in support of facilitating trade and the regional economy while being financially sustainable has clashed with the visions of some residents and municipal politicians. Mayor Fred Eisenberger made it known he wants potential brownfield sites in

12432-453: Was paid out to major global financial institutions on behalf of AIG. While this money was legally owed to the banks by AIG (under agreements made via credit default swaps purchased from AIG by the institutions), a number of Congressmen and media members expressed outrage that taxpayer money was used to bail out banks. Economist Gary Gorton wrote in May 2009 Unlike the historical banking panics of

12544-402: Was the result." In May 2008, NPR explained in their Peabody Award winning program " The Giant Pool of Money " that a vast inflow of savings from developing nations flowed into the mortgage market, driving the U.S. housing bubble. This pool of fixed income savings increased from around $ 35 trillion in 2000 to about $ 70 trillion by 2008. NPR explained this money came from various sources, "[b]ut

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