Ottawa Ikea: a symbol of Canada's hollow recovery

Canada's minister of finance: 'still the same guy, only somehow better'?

The Guardian:

Slogans are all Canada's leaders can offer the small crowd lured by the opening of Ottawa's new Ikea

On seeing the news that a new Ikea store was opening in Ottawa, Canada, you might have been forgiven for assuming it would create about as much excitement as any other worthwhile Canadian initiative. You would be wrong, apparently. Because the opening was an event sporting thundersticks, chanting, overnight camping and a speech by the mayor. In this time of global deficit reduction and austerity, in the face of European financial collapse, the newest, the biggest Ikea in Canada opened last week to all of these things in the name of the economy, progress, and growth.

But behind all the embarrassing parochial fanfare sits a system on the edge of collapse – the dead shell of consumer culture laid bare by years of panicked markets and burst bubbles – giving the entire event the pall of a woebegone celebration for the newest architectural tomb to an ideal under attack from the inside, rotting and hollow, and on the verge of dismantling itself. If only we knew it.

The idea that the economy is in need of a boost is as familiar here as anywhere, only with a twist, as Canada's government has worked hard to convince everyone it's already happened.

But here, too, there's trouble. Canada's household debt is on the rise, bumping up again in the second quarter of 2011, with household credit market debt now 149% of disposable income – the kind of levels that catch the attention of the International Monetary Fund. And only weeks before Christmas, the consumer confidence index has stumbled. Only a quarter of Canadians now believe they'll be better off this time next year.

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