WATCH ABOVE: When asked to define a technical recession, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper immediately pointed his finger at the energy sector.
Conservative candidate Jason Kenney offered a broader definition of recession during a televised interview Sunday.
Kenney suggested that instead of two consecutive quarters of negative growth, a recession could be defined as a “widespread downturn in the economy” instead of the more technical definition.
“Most economists define a recession as a widespread downturn in the economy,” Kenney said during an interview on CBC.
“What we know is we have a clear sectoral downturn in oil and gas, because of a 60 per cent decline in global prices for that commodity.”
Some, like the C.D. Howe Institute, do define a recession that way, but the Conservatives’ June budget used the more traditional definition.
“’Recession’ means a period of at least two consecutive quarters of negative growth in real gross domestic product for Canada, as reported by Statistics Canada under the Statistics Act,” the Conservatives’ June budget reads.
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Statistics Canada is expected to release new GDP numbers Tuesday.
Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau have been using the spectre of a recession as a means of attacking Harper’s policies, claiming repeatedly throughout the campaign that Conservative policies are at least partially responsible for the economic downturn.
Harper, however, has said that while it’s true Canada’s energy sector is in decline, the rest of the economy has been doing well.
Harper made a similar remark while answering questions Monday, saying there has been “a contraction that has been focused almost entirely in one sector of the economy.”
“We’re seeing the economy grow over roughly 80 per cent of the sectors, and so we’re seeing positive non-energy export growth. So look we obviously have an impact on our economy because of oil prices,” he said touting a finance department report proclaiming a $5-billion surplus.
But whether 80 per cent of the economy is growing is up for debate. The Bank of Canada report which Harper referred to identified a drop in the oil and gas sector and the non-energy commodities sector – together those industries make up about 18 per cent of the GDP. The bank reported a slight increase for the rest but didn’t go into details, instead saying that overall, it’s growing.
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