Canada's aging, Shell puts Arctic drilling on ice & WOW Air's big launch: BUSINESS WEEK WRAP

Well, it's official: we're all not getting any younger.

That was the ton of bricks that Canada's national data agency dropped on us this week, with news on Tuesday that for the first time ever, there are more people in Canada over the age of 64 than under 15.

Demographers have seen this baby boom bulge coming for years — if not decades — but it's still a landmark moment that deserves acknowledgement, and a fundamental change in the way our economy works.

People are living longer these days, which is unquestionably a good thing for everyone. But if we're all living longer at a time when fewer and fewer people are having babies, it's an economic conundrum as there's a smaller pool of workers to pay for higher pension and health care costs, to name a few.

"In the past, we used to have lots of young people coming up with their energy and new ideas, and they would push the economy forward," sociology professor Michael Haan at Western University told Amanda Lang this week. "What that means is that it might be time for us to rethink how we develop economically."

Fortunately, Canada is not alone in this problem and is actually hitting the milestone a lot later than many other industrialized nations. One in six Canadians today are senior citizens but in Japan, for example, that ratio jumps to more than one in four.

Its a good thing to remember moving forward, as that gap between seniors and the very young is likely to widen as the years go on.

Costs of climate change

When environmentalists warn about the costs of climate change, it's easy for some people in the business community to ignore it. But when the governor of the Bank of England does it, people stand up and take notice.

Speaking to an audience of insurance professionals in London, Canadian Mark Carney said on Wednesday that businesses need to start factoring in carbon costs when making their plans.

The days of pretending that carbon doesn't have a price are over, the former head of the Bank of Canada said.

"Longer-term risks could have severe impacts on you and your policyholders," he warned.

To be clear, Carney wasn't necessarily advocating for the shutdown of the energy sector, or a comprehensive global tax on carbon, the way some people are. Rather, he was simply warning insurers who underpin the global economy that they need to start factoring in the costs of natural disasters on their balance shees. He also expressed concern over the valuation of energy assets as owners could or risk holding the bag when things go pear shaped.

And when one of the most respected central bankers on earth speaks, the City listens.

Arctic drilling put on ice

There was more good news for environmentalists this week as one of the world's largest oil companies shelved plans for Arctic drilling.

Shell spent about $7 billion US trying to drill for oil two kilometres below the surface of the Arctic ocean off the coast of Alaska. But the results were disappointing so the company is giving the whole idea the cold shoulder.

Shell pulling out its stakes could be enough to convince other major oil players to chill on the subject of deepwater drilling in Arctic waters.

With oil hovering at around $45 a barrel, it's hard to make a business case for it, economist Todd Hirsch at ATB Financial told us this week.

Wells under the Arctic are "very expensive to develop," he said, "and in this price environment, they're just not viable so I think we will probably hear of more of those Arctic projects in the coming months being cancelled or delayed."

Fare wars coming for flights to Europe?

And finally, our most-read story on the business page this week — by a country mile — was this one from Thursday about Icelandic airline WOW Air's plans to offer fares as low as $149 for one-way flights to Europe starting next May.

We doubt there will be many tickets at that price (and the airline has a host of extra fees tacked on for everything from seat selection to checking bags) but from our perspective, it's nice to see consumers get a little more choice in the market, as that tends to keep all airlines that much stronger.

Our very own Don Pittis had a nice follow-up piece on Friday chatting with the airline's founder and CEO that's well worth your time, explaining how he thinks the plan could succeed, and outlines the many Canadian connections of the man a breathless press release this week described as "the Icelandic Richard Branson."

Check it out if you haven't already.

Other stuff

Those were just a few of our best stories of the past five days. Check out our home page often for more, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter here. In the mean time, here's a day by day list of our most read stories this week.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday:

Thursday

Friday

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