Hi all,

According to BBC news last night, Canada is now officially in recession.

Just interested to know if they're saying the same thing over there?

Yes, it's official here, working in a shop I have noticed that it has gone quiet even with Christmas coming up, people are using debit instead of credit cards.

The general populace appears to be worried and every day more job losses are announced.

Roll on 2009.....

Charlie

It'll be interesting to see what happens if Harper clings to power. The rest of the western world is pursuing Keynesian policies of economic stimulation which he rejects in favour of Reaganomics. One might expect that to lead disaster for Canada; surely Stephen Harper can't be right while the rest of the world is wrong? A stimulus package in the US might spill over the border but not if comes with protectionist measures such as repatriating American jobs. We may expect poverty but, at least, it'll be academically interesting poverty.

Manitoba is still keeping its head above water, the province added over 2000 jobs in November. Though I doubt it will last.

Judging by how busy all the shops are here in Kamloops, I would say that this so called recession is not affecting certain parts of Canada.
People are spending money here like crazy at the moment, the mall was packed last weekend.

I think Harper may be right..Canada only expects a small contraction in 2009, so why go crazy with stimulus. I think the key to Canada is the American stimulus, as the majority of Canadian exports go this way. And the rate the US are printing money, one has to ask the virtue of such stimuli.

I'm confused by this. Are you saying that Canada doesn't need a stimulus package because the US will provide it for Canada and, at the same time, that a US stimulus package won't work?

Pretty much both. If stimulus works, the US will likely impact Canada more than $30Bn from Ottawa.

But whether the stimulus will work is anyone's guess. It seems Keynesian economics is winning out right now. But what is scary is the fact that the US is creating money to pay for stimulus..which IMO is very dangerous.

How else can a state finance a reflation? It seems to me that the government has to print money and just has to be cautious about inflation and stagflation. Essentially they have to print money and give it to the poor; the people who are most likely to spend it. If that can be done by employing the poor to build something useful so much the better.

Im in england first ive heard canada is in the s... slowed down a bit yes but recession i dont think so.

Canada's economy is an extension of the US one, it just lags a bit in time. You may have heard that the US economy has some problems.

That can't be right. Our Glorious Leader assured us during the election campaign that the fundamentals were strong and that the r-word didn't apply here. Surely he couldn't have been telling porkies?

Was on the BBC News at Ten last night, apparently 'officially' in recession now.

When he says "Canada" he means "parts of Alberta".

It's the only way, but the problem is governments being "cautious about inflation"...as generally they tend not to be very good at it. The more debt laden the government then the weaker the recovery, when we eventually get to it.