every forecast had this quarter pegged as the rebound. ottawa projected 1.4%. rbc and td both said 1.7%. q4 was the dip, q1 was supposed to be the recovery.
we got roughly zero growth
yes, this is a technical recession but
the longer pattern is what really matters and what concerns me most
real gdp per person grew 0.6% in all of 2025. it fell in 2024. it fell in 2023.
we haven’t become richer per person in years, and it’s crazy to me that we keep acting surprised when our growth is stalled
we have fundamental productivity and investment problems that won’t fix themselves
I will sound like I’m beating a dead horse here, but worth repeating again… we know what we need to do to fix this:
1. make capital gains and corporate tax rates at least as good with the US, if not materially better. across all industries.
2. open up protected markets to competition (telecoms, finance, dairy, transportation etc)
3. rapidly reduce bureaucratic red tape and slow process across the board, not just for favoured projects or sectors
and finally, let’s all remind ourselves that we can just do things. every Canadian can be part of fixing this. we can collectively hustle - aim high
Canada can be the richest country in the world, if we choose to be
The Canadian economy edged into a technical recession as weak business and government spending drove a slight contraction in the first quarter
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…