Well, that is a change of story lines.
Just a week ago, we were hearing from at least some of the major banks that Canada was headed into a recession, if not already in one. Then we got this week’s GDP numbers.
It turns out the Canadian economy has a bit more resilience than even seasoned watchers thought. They were caught by surprise by the strength of the growth line – up nearly a full percentage point for the first quarter of the year. That came on the heels of a flat quarter which many saw as the beginning of the two negative quarters that are the technical definition of a recession.
Interestingly, the biggest contributors to Canada’s gain in Q1 was mining and oil and gas — two things Saskatchewan is a big player in, so, we are part of the reason Canada is doing better than expected.
Now, with these robust numbers and further signals of strength looking forward at least one bank is now calling for an immediate hike in the bank rate to slow things down.
