The downward movement of the Canadian dollar from mid-1997 to the end of 1998 was largely a response to the sharp decline in world prices of the primary commodities that Canada exports. Our economy had to adjust to this reality; the exchange rate decline facilitated a shift in activity from the primary sector to manufacturing and other export sectors.
Many who had struggled for years were finding jobs. Racial disparities in unemployment were narrowing. In contrast, one of the great cruelties of the COVID-19 recession is the toll it took on workers who were finally beginning to experience the benefits of a period of historically long economic growth. Those same groups, unfortunately, disproportionately shouldered the brunt of the pandemic’s burden.