Two potentially important Canadian projects, which could have produced revenues in the billions and jobs in the tens of thousands, have now been officially abandoned and the reasons offered by both relate to the economic impossibility of successfully negotiating all the regulatory obstacles that have been presented.

One of the largest conundrums we would point out is the matter of rising interest rates starting to take place in several nations.

There is one last indicator that I believe may be the most important of all. That is the “Index of Leading Economic Indicators” (LEI), which is a compendium of those economic indicators that point toward future growth, and LEI has just reached historic highs, far exceeding previous peaks in 1999 and 2006.

We have heard much “tough talk” through the years regarding reining in the regulatory excesses of government agencies in the past, but little action has followed those words. Perhaps we will finally see a genuine move away from excessive regulation.