Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged “some weakness” in the economy after recent GDP data showed Canada was in a technical recession in the six-month period between October 2025 and March 2026.
Carney spoke to reporters outside the House of Commons on Tuesday, and was asked if Canada is in a recession. The question came after Globe and Mail reporter Laura Stone posted video Monday asking Carney to comment on whether Canada is in a technical recession, and he walked away without answering.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had shared Stone’s video, saying: “This is the kind of decisive response to a recession that only a master economist and crisis manager could give.”
Carney was asked the question again by reporters while heading into cabinet on Tuesday morning.
“This government’s been in the process of laying the foundations for a stronger, more resilient, more independent Canadian economy. That process is settling in,” Carney said.
“As we do all that, the data is going to be uneven. We see some weakness, in part because of clear decisions by the government.”
Poilievre later told reporters that Carney had refused to answer “a basic yes or no question” after “hiding from this devastating economic report.”
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“The prime minister once again is failing the Canadian people by refusing to tell them the truth: that he caused a recession,” Poilievre said.
“It’s the only recession in the G7, the only recession in North America. And he needs to rapidly reverse the Liberal policies that caused that recession.”
Annualized GDP in the first quarter of 2026 showed the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent, Statistics Canada revealed Friday, and the final quarter of 2025 was revised to show a larger decline of one per cent.
Most economists consider two back-to-back quarters of negative GDP to be the technical definition of a recession.
Several economists and Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers acknowledged the results, but said a recession should take into account multiple signals.
“I think we need to be careful not to put too much weight in any one indicator,” Rogers said in Ottawa on Monday.
“Two quarters of annualized contraction in GDP does meet one definition of a recession, but simply the fact that you have to put the term ‘technical’ in front of it sort of tells you that you really need to look past that one indicator.”
Scotiabank chief economist Derek Holt said in a note on Monday that the GDP reports should not be taken at face value, especially given a surge in gold imports.
“It would be irresponsible to make a recession call on the basis of surging gold imports that are idiosyncratic in nature versus reflective of underlying activity in the economy,” Holt said.
Trump revives '51st state' rhetoric over recession report
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday responded to news about Canada slipping into a technical recession on his Truth Social account while posting “51st State,” reviving rhetoric that has angered Canadians in the past.
The post was then shared by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra on X on Tuesday.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson told Global News in an email that amplifying Trump’s Truth Social posts “is our usual practice.”
Poilievre said Tuesday that Trump’s comment was “ridiculous, and it’s never going to happen.”
“We have to make sure that we don’t allow ridiculous comments like that to distract us from the very real suffering that Canadians are experiencing as a result of Liberal policies here at home, the families who can’t afford food, the one in four Canadians who are living in food insecurity,” he said.
“They don’t want us to be distracted by a foolish comment like that, they want us to focus on reversing the Liberal policies that have made them hungry in the first place.”
YOU are the weakness Carney! YOU AND YOUR DAMN F*SCIST PARTY! YOU and TRUDEAU have f*cked this country! Step down you fraud!!
Carneys doing his magic , and its showing.. elbows up you idiots!!
It seems now Canada does need the USA. Carney now bootlicking Trump
Im ashamed to say I’m canadian, but my elbows are up
No stories about him running away from a journalist ls question? Shocker 🤣
Eastern Canada has dragged western canada down with them by always voting a party into power that continues to destroy all our lives, financial lives as well. Go LIBERALS GO, what do eastern canadians care what you have done to this whole country. THEY DON’T.
Carney and this Liberal government are in complete denial about Canada being in a recession. Canadians are losing jobs, using food banks in record numbers struggling with high food prices not to mention the number of homeless Canadians living on the streets.
Carney will get on a stage and pontificate on what Canadians should think. The Elbows Up Canadians will lap it up like Kool-Aid.
and with the comments made here hits the nail on the head, some would question this, is it democracy as they claim, or something else, perhaps considering a lot of monopolization is noticed or ignored?
This is the result you get when a Govt ignores the economy and obsesses about climate change, green policies, pride parades and extreme gender ideology.
After everyone has been disarmed for their own safety, all their communications and automotive travel is monitored by AI security to ensure their thoughts and actions stay “patriotic”, and when all the jobs are given to newcomers, leaving the locals so poor they have to sell their family homes just to stay alive, they will still vote Liberal.
We have a higher population than ever and the economy is shrinking. Our schools never promoted “critical thinking” and “rugged individuality” because if we are too smart and independent, then we are harder to fool and control. The amount of people who voted for Carney are evidence of this, they prefer to be told what to think. For them it is too much effort and responsibility to think for themselves.
How many jobs have been lost the last 4 months? I believe it is over 100,000. Things are going in the wrong direction.
@Ben REALLY !!!! Unfriggin believably dumb. Eleven years of Liberal incompetence. Five of which Carney was advising that mental midget Trudeau and now the same idiotic policies have us in recession and you are actually blaming the Conservatives !!! You need to see a therapist if you actually believe what you wrote.
Weakness ??? People are losing jobs by the thousands, tourism is in the tank, food bank use is at historic highs, homelessness is out of control, seniors that can’t afford to live in this Carney economy are considering using MAiD, youth unemployment is through the roof, grocery prices have never been so high, and all Carney can say is he sees some weakness. The guy is absolutely delusional and in denial of all the facts telling him that Canada is in a deep recession due to his policies. The INSANITY is palpable !!!
Canada had a very weak economy under Presidemt Biden. While convenient to blame Trump, that doesn’t cut the mustard nor deal with the internal polices that must be fixed within Canada (eg. Building a pipeline from the west to Atlantic Canada).
Everything was caused by Trump’s tariffs, and the conservatives are defending Trump instead of Carney and our country! One wonders if they are from the USA!
Funny how those Elbows up Canadians are starting to squeal now their Grandkids can’t afford homes or find jobs and are looking to leave Canada. Yeah Carney and the liberals we’re worthy of your vote.
Carney is effing delusional…
We have been in a recession for years now based on inflationary pressures. You vote for socialism and this is what you get.
Ignorant as hell people insist on repeating economic history.
Every grade ten kid knows that tariffs ARE NOT ONLY TAXES, THEY ARE THE WORST KIND! They stifle everything!
In 1930 dummy Herbert Hoover slapped tariffs on trade and guess what happened? The Great Depression?
trump needs to not only stop closing that Strait, he needs to stop closing trade.
Or go.
Carney said to judge him on groceries. Canada has some of the highest food inflation among advanced economies. However, Carney and the CBC will explain everything away and blame
Trump.
Just a technical one but who cares right? Elbows up!