This is the fourth in a series of posts in
which I am presenting evidence evaluating the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario,
which was released on March 4, 2011.
The 25-year plan was to guide provincial decision-making and investment
in northern Ontario with the aim of strengthening the regional economy. The
goal was strengthening the economy of the North by:
- Diversifying the region's traditional resource-based industries
- Stimulating new investment and entrepreneurship
- Nurturing new and emerging sectors with high growth potential.
While the provincial government did commit itself to the
development of performance measures for ministry specific initiatives that
supported the implementation of the plan, I will be using a broader set of
indicators of overall economic performance that are supported by the
availability of readily accessible public data. My first post was an overview while my second post looked at
employment and my third post looked at new investment spending as measured by
building permits. In this post, I will be looking at consumer and business
bankruptcies or insolvencies as an indicator of economic health. All other things, during times of economic distress, one
would expect to see more consumer and business bankruptcies while during better
economic times, the numbers should be expected to decline.
