It’s a Recession: Now, Who’s Hurting and Where?
We asked economists from coast to coast to see how Canada is weathering the storm.
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, the country’s gross domestic product shrank by 0.5 per cent (annualized) in the second quarter of this year, following a 0.8 per cent (annualized) decline in the first quarter.
Reacting to the news, the Conservatives played up the fact that the economy improved this quarter over last — though party leader Stephen Harper refused to utter the word “recession” at media stops in Ontario.
“If you look at the data over the last year, you actually see growth in 80 per cent of the economy,” Harper said. “That is the reality of the situation.”
Meanwhile, opposition parties tried their best to make Harper look like he doesn’t know a calculator from the five fingers on his right hand.
“The only person in Canada who doesn’t know that Stephen Harper’s plan has failed, or won’t acknowledge it, is Stephen Harper,” NDP leader Tom Mulcair said in Kelowna. “All the other objective measures prove that Stephen Harper’s plan has failed.”
One thing is for certain: it can take more than seven hours to fly across Canada, and the economies you would pass over are not the same.
So, to save you some airfare and lost luggage, The Tyee spoke to economists from coast to coast to see how the recession is affecting different parts of the country.
Two economies, two directions
It’s not a surprise that Canada has entered a technical recession, according to economist Mike Moffatt at the Mowat Centre, an independent think-tank in Toronto — but it is bizarre.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
