Canada’s recession reality

Carney has said little about the latest dismal economic news, and his critics say he's in hiding.Last week, Statistics Canada reported the country slipped into recession as two straight quarters of shrinking GDP.That came just two days after Prime Minister Carney said this.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, this government is moving forward this economy in the face of a global energy crisis, in the face of a tariff crisis, in the face of wars.This country is the second strongest economy in the G7.We are growing strong.We have the strongest fiscal position in the G7.We have a plan.Canada has a bright future.

Well, Conservative Party leader Pierre Paglieff says all the other G7 countries face the same economic challenges as Canada, but only our economy is shrinking.

France is facing tariffs and global economic uncertainty.France is not in a recession.The United Kingdom is facing tariffs and the global energy price increase.And the United Kingdom is not in recession.Germany and Italy are facing global economic effects and tariffs.They're not in recession.

Japan.is facing tariffs and the global economic economy.Japan is not in recession.The United States is obviously facing tariffs and global economic factors like high energy prices, and the United States is not in recession.So why is it that only Canada, after a year of Mark Carney, is in a recession today?Well, you could ask him that question, but he won't take any of your questions.

He's hiding from you.It was Friday morning that we learned that Canada's economy was the only one in a recession, the only G7 economy.And what has Mark Carney done since?He's been in hiding.Oh yes, he let you in for 30 seconds to have a little picture of him with the Chinese foreign minister, then he hid for the rest of the weekend.Today, he's going to let you show up and take a picture of him wearing a hard hat and carrying a hammer around pretending he's a carpenter.

But he won't have time to take questions on how he created the only recession in the G7.Question period.Where normally Prime Ministers go to answer, especially in a moment of crisis, When the economy has fallen into the only recession in the G7, you would expect him to be there, to be accountable, to show his incredible economic brilliance, but he's not showing up for question period either.While Canadians are starving, losing their jobs and missing mortgage payments, and Mark Carney has created the only G7 economy in a recession, he is hiding from accountability.

While much of the media reaction has been aimed at downplaying what it calls merely a technical recession, this headline from the fi example, recession, what economy is doing better t by this measure, GDP per on the rise.

CBC News fe who said the downturn may is small according to stat present and it's not anything that economists wanted to see.Two consecutive quarters is what we call a technical recession.When the economy shrinks, when there's a contraction in economic growth for six months consecutively really.But when we say it's a technical recession it's because there's also different ways to measure this.Do we compare it year over year?Do we compare it quarter over quarter?

Do we compare itit month -to -month?And needless to say, while we aren't seeing a lot of green arrows in these numbers, by some definitions, this is a technical recession.By some definitions, it's not.But there is not a lot of growth happening here.We are seeing some shrinking in the GDP, the gross domestic product.

That's one of the ways that we measure how big it is. big the economy is to put it simply there.And it declined at an annualized rate year over year by 0 .1 % in the first quarter.We are seeing economists already react to these numbers, though, by pointing out that while the economy is sluggish, you know, there's kind of a blah vibe to everything because of tariffs and energy prices dragging things down.This technical recession, if it happened, may be over by some measures or may just not be as big a deal as it sounds because oil and gas prices have gone up so much.And that does inject money into the Canadian economy.

Despite that, conservatives say the economic pain felt by Canadians is all too real.

Mr. Carney says we're not in a real recession.He sent out his liberal commentators and economists to say it's just a technicality.Mr. Carney, I have a question for you.And I hope that you'll have the courage to actually look Canadians in the eyes today and be accountable for your recession.The single mother who has to turn back items at the grocery checkout because she can't afford to pay for them.Are you going to tell her that her hunger is just a technicality?

Are you going to say to the man who goes home to his kids in Windsor tonight to say that he's lost his job and they're going to have to sell the home?That's only technical.Are you going to tell that young couple that work every day but still can't move out of that 400 square foot apartment that their inability to own a home is just technical?Or are you going to own up?for the recession that you created and get into the House of Commons and do your job to reverse the liberal policies that have made us the only economy in the world.in the G7.

We as Conservatives are here to work.We have a plan to reverse the liberal recession, get rid of the anti -development laws, cut the red tape to unlock our businesses so that they can grow higher and pay more wages.Cut the bureaucracy, the consultants, the foreign aid, the handouts to phony refugees, the corporate welfare to liberal insiders.Close the tax loopholes that Mark Carney uses to avoid paying his taxes so that we can reduce them for everyone.Use that money to bring down inflationary deficits, taxes.Let's cut taxes on work, investment, savings, home building and energy so that we can unlock our economy and be the fastest growing in the G7.

Polyev has called for an emergency debate on the economy as soon as possible.Our guest today is Dan McTague, former member of Parliament.He spent 18 years as a Liberal MP, and he's also president for Canadians for Affordable Energy.Welcome, Dan.

Mark, good to be here on a Monday and looking forward to our discussion.

Well, the prime minister has been quiet since the news came out that Canada has slipped into recession.He does have some of his friends in the media, again, running interference for the Liberals.saying that it's just a technical recession.It doesn't mean a whole lot.Our economy is still growing, despite word out of Statistics Canada.In fact, it's not growing.

It hasn't been growing for the last couple of quarters.And so hence the fact that we're in a recession.And the Conservatives are saying, well, this recession is all too real for Canadians who are feeling the pinch.Where do you stand on it?

Yeah, I think there's the real world and there's the Ottawa bubble.The Ottawa bubble says everything's just fine, we're civil servants, we have pensions, we get paid $30 ,000 as journalists, so we don't really care, we don't feel it, we don't see it, we don't hear it, we don't repeat it.But that's not what's happening on the street.And everyone knows we're in a big pickle.And whether you want to call it technical or not, a recession is a recession.I heard this kind of nonsense back in the 80s and 90s, again in 2000s, when we completely denied the fact that we were there.

The reality is that in 2009, last time we crossed into this area, we were dealing with a global economic meltdown, which Canada was unscathed.It had a very strong fiscal position, which it doesn't have now.It had strong institutions, which we don't have now.It had a lot of investment, despite the downturn, which we don't have now.And so, you know, we also didn't have, you know, learning the country with 1 .5 million people more than what our own Department of Immigration would have accepted.And so we've created inflation, we've depressed labor, we've created an unemployment vortex, especially for young people.

And we've basically shown the door to anybody, unless of course we may propose that they get $500 ,000 fines, while at the same time, Energy prices are going through the roof.Food prices are going through the roof.Cost of mortgaging is going through the roof.No one can afford what Canada has become.And whether we want to point one finger, you need several to figure out just how bad it's been.But we have pursued a woke policy of the past decade that is now literally these chickens coming home to roost.

And the reality is that even those who about a year ago were strutting their stuff, elbows in the air, elbows up, Well, how does it feel?

Be it's ankles up and there Yeah, it's interesting th inflation because sometim a whole bunch of people, brought in during for th continue to come in.I me breaks a little bit, but a lot of people.Sometimmask the recession because, you know, people are coming in, you're giving them money to spend.And so just by virtue of the fact that they are spending that money sometimes can make the economy look better than it is.But you wouldn't know it by listening to the media, which seems to be taking a toll on the global economy.

Troubles by the Globe and Mail today that maybe we should be cutting back on seniors benefits.Wonderful stuff.You know, when you destroy and vandalize an economy and you put up your left wing arms and you say this is the right thing to do because we all have government jobs and we all have pensions and whatnot, that's great, except that when you drive out the creative class that people actually produce, create, innovate, risk, use your sweat equity to create something in this country and you told them basically shove off, get lost, there's no business case, and admonish them with DEI, ESG, and also net zero and all sorts of other nonsensical ideas that have been around pervading, infecting the country for the past 10 years.This very much, in my view, sadly, is an implosion that is being detonated from within.And we have decided that we want to go down this route to satisfy a particularly woke constituency in this country that has now destroyed the Canadian economy.And there are many other nations going into reception.

Yeah, they're having difficulty, but they're avoiding it.Canada isn't, because we've determined that we're going to go on this path.We've decided to do so regardless of the evidence, regardless of what is out there.And having, you know, journalists who have a responsibility to hold governments to account, paid by the government to keep their mouth shut or to not look at certain things is, you know, is one of the critical, most critical points.And I, you know, I do my gas price predictions.You know, there's half the media out there won't talk.

They want to talk about my gas price predictions, but they don't want to credit Canadians for affordable energy because they don't like the net zero policy that we're going after that is undermining the Canadian economy.You can't have it both ways, by the way, for those companies that do that.Don't use my stuff or I will sue you.And I want to make that very, very clear.I've done this before.I've been very successful.

But if you want to be Mr. Woke and Mr. Cool and have everybody drive around EVs, you shouldn't care about the price of gas, natural gas, the cost of food, because you think we should be eating bugs to begin with.Driving around little EVs made in China.While at the same time, heat pumps that don't work in the middle of winter, it could wind up freezing people to death.We're not for insurance companies saying you have to have dual fuel.I can go on, but we have painted ourselves into a corner.This is a detrimental, self -made destruction that the country has decided to embrace.

And if you're not clued in well enough, look at the number of people who want to leave because the investment is already left and it's not coming back.What's my proof?138 .4 Canadian pennies to buy a US dollar.No one wants to invest in Canada.

Yeah, we could talk about your latest predictions on gas prices.I mean, we've seen fluctuations obviously due to the ebbs and flows and negotiations with Iran and also what's going on with Israel and and Hezbollah.But I do want to ask you this first.Just two days before the news came out about the fact that Canada was in recession, the Prime Minister came out and said Canada's economy was the second fastest growing in the G7.How do you account for the disconnect here between what he is telling, and given all of this, kind of explains why he's been awfully quiet since then.I mean, the Conservatives are saying he's in hiding.

I mean, he's still out there somewhere, obviously, but The fact that he's not talking here suggests that this is probably a bit of an embarrassment for him.We're certainly not the second fastest growing country in the G7.In fact, we're the slowest growing country in the G7.And he just completely got it wrong.And this was just two days before the news came out.How do you account for that?

Well, maybe that fine wine and booze thing.catering on the airplanes have gone to their head.They're still not able to get off their drunken stupor.The reality is that the country is not doing well.Talk to anybody.Unless you happen to be some wokester out in the middle of nowhere living on a particular island and eating hemp or rather using hemp to get around and a couple of pieces of grain and stuff like that.

The rest of the world is this country is very worried, very nervous, and many people are failing and it's getting worse.And I don't know if there's a controlled demolition of the economy.I hope that's not the case, but to simply go out and deny what is obvious and use all sorts of little tricks with stats can play little games about what is and what isn't, isn't masking the reality.This country decided to do this on its own and don't blame Donald Trump.Maybe we'll hear him blame Justin Trudeau.I don't think so.

But it might be convenient for us to point fingers elsewhere when we have no other way in which to explain this except to put.blame on our own woke stupidity over the past decade.We warned people about this.We knew this was going to happen.When you destroy manufacturing, you destroy the investment climate, you destroy our natural resource sector, when you make it impossible for people to make ends meet, and then you flood the country with people who are prepared to work for virtually nothing.You have 25 people living in a basement apartment.

Yes, you might have fix some of these things.But the damage, the knock -on effect is long lasting.And I suspect that the next quarter is going to be just as bad unless they can play and engage in some kind of creative numbers to try to mask and paver over the fact that the country is in decline.I don't care what officialdom in Ottawa likes to say.The reality on the street, and everyone feels it, everyone knows it, is this country is in a lot of trouble.Don't take my word for it.

Check your portfolio.Check your assets as far as real estate is concerned.The very thing that people invested in over the past several years, their nest egg is now completely gone.And by the way, when you go to the grocery checkout, are you not having a little bit of, you know, sinking feeling every time you get there?I know I am.And so I can't believe the last time I was at Food Basics out here, I saw two people leave half what they were going to buy on the table at the cash register because they simply can't afford it.

That's not my Canada.And people who destroyed it for their woke, selfish, ideological, narrative, left -wing, socialist nonsense, whether that's in my party, which it is now, it was a social party, not a socialist party, very much interested in improving the social condition, they have a lot to blame for what they have done.And yeah, there's still going to be, again, those out there who are doing very well, have got their money, you know, have nice big fat pensions, work for the government, work as civil servants, frankly, You've had your opinion and you've destroyed the rest of the country for the rest of us for generations to come.So, you know, you've disenfranchised yourself by destroying the Canadian economy.Well done.

Yeah, I mean, you've got, what, 2 .2 million people going to food banks and the reality of stories that you just said, which is a person in front of you who could not afford to pay for all the groceries that they put on the conveyor belt.These are the realities and they're in stark contrast to what we're being told by the government, which is everything's fine, we're doing great.It's just amazing the gap between reality and propaganda when we're hearing from this government.And it would be hard, of course, for Carney to blame Trudeau for anything when Carney in fact was an advisor to Trudeau for five years.And now we see, you probably are aware, of course, you saw him in New York.sort of to me it looked l saying, you know, let's s

You know, we need a new deal with America.We've got Doug Ford now planning an event in D .C., you know, with Ross Perot Jr.And that, you know, despite all of that, they're also saying, well, we got to disconnect from we got to decouple from the United States and and hook up with with China and Europe.I mean, it just seems like they're at a point where they're just throwing anything at the wall and hoping that something sticks.

Look, the game was over a year and a half ago.You know, when Justin was down to six percent, the liberals were out.They found a new person.They made people all feel that, oh, this is bad Donald Trump.And we could have a guy with great resume who's pretty much had the, you know, the what we call the Midas touch in reverse.Every time, every time he's come out, everyone thinks he's the boy wonder.

He's everything turns to garbage.And, you know, Mark, I was just blown away.Blown away when I saw the numbers about Canada's exports, you know, 70, 72, 76 % to the United States.They import, we import less than that.So we always have a net with them of Europe.Yeah, 6, 7%, big deal.

But we take in 13 % of our imports from them.So any attempt to try to say China or Europe is our outcome, is just a fool's errand, and it blinded people.Yeah, it's glitter, it's great, it's wonderful, oh yeah, we're all European, and yeah, you know, these are all our values.Baloney.Wake the hell up.And by the way, don't wake up.

You've done your damage.You've had four elections in which you have really worked hard to bring about your net, your narratives, which have netted absolutely zero for the country.You've had your time.Pack up, get the hell out.Mark Carney, He can't continue as Prime Minister if he's going to bring the country to a position where it won't exist economically and may very well seesocial and economic and political tensions that are going to make it quite unbearable to do anything in this country.

And I don't care how we want to slice this.We made a big mistake.I don't like Donald Trump more than anyone else, but we miscalculated our reaction.A country as nimble in our finances and nimble in our foreign affairs could very well have outflanked Donald Trump.Mexico is doing it.Why the hell are we not able to do that?

We've got our heads buried in the sand.And the reality is that there are some grievances that need to be looked at.If we don't, our automotive sector is gone, our energy sector is in a bad place.is in a holding pattern and our agriculture is basically dependent on whatever China says they want to betray us with or basically try to blackmail us with, which is what they've done.That's no way of running it.By the way, this whole thing with the F -35s and the Griffins and the Saab, we want to get an inferior product just to make a political statement.

Good luck with that.The response, I think, will be far worse than anybody has calculated.This is one way of ensuring the third quarter and the next quarter, on which we look at the economic outlook, will be the subsequent ones to come, all in the negative.And this country will be very much committed to years of a recessionary experiment.

Yeah, I mean, the fact that we've made a secret security agreement with the Chinese is very disturbing.Certainly, that will not go unnoticed south of the border, where our relations with the United States have already been strained.And given the sour state of those relations, I mean, how do we get things back on the rails with the Americans in order to save Kuzma?Yeah.What would you do in a state like this, given kind of the lousy state?of our relationship with the Americans.

Well, but the time to eat humble pie.This isn't about winning the Americans and beating them militarily or beating them economically.We can't and shouldn't do that.We have many values, but we have to atone for the fact that we were so arrogant, so Tony and trendy that we could go, you know, flank him and, you know, elbows up.But we now find his ankles up and the things for which we are weak.were not done by Donald Trump.

They were not done by the US administration.They merely called us on it and exposed why we made some really stunned mistakes over the past 10 years.Look, if we could just get people who have best interests, free this, free that, government money, government handouts, government pensions, we'd get them aside and start dealing and talking to Canadians who really say what we need to do is be as practical as we can and work with what we have and not look a gift horse in the mouth.You don't have to like Donald Trump.But you have to deal with the American public and you have to be able to come back and say, these are the countermeasures that we offer and negotiate.Let's offer a deal rather than these kind of platitudes and, you know, these rather childish remarks that, oh, well, you know, he's not fit.

He doesn't do that.Look, we poked the bear in the eye enough even before he was reelected.We went out and Justin Trudeau's first comments, oh, he defeated a woman.Listen, the world is past that.It's not 2015 anymore.Start dealing with the facts at hand.

Our economy is in decline.Their economy is surging.Our economy is losing, you know.valuable entrepreneurs, we're seeing brain drain in this country, they're going to the United States, we're going to an environment, they are going to a jurisdiction who doesn't tax the living snot out of them every time they turn around, and then pretend that those programs are somehow helping us have a better health care system with better social outcomes, which they are not.So we need to really up our game and recognize that, you know, atoning for the past 10 years,means getting rid, as we should have last year, the liberals and putting them in the penalty box so they can get readjusted and maybe a bit of a tune -up so they get reconnected with reality as opposed to the reality we currently have.

We're all going to suffer because of our arrogance and because our willingness to go along with this idea that Trump is to blame and we can simply magically wish these things away by spending more money, offering more social programs, and cozying up with countries that still represent, in Mark Carney's words, the greatest security threat the world knows, and that's China.So if you want to do that, that's great.If you want to pretend the Europeans have got our back, frankly, they haven't had our back in centuries.We came out and bailed them not once, but twice.I know I've got relatives who gave their lives in that part of the world.So I don't need to hear a lecture about, you know, dealing with Europe doesn't care about Canada.

Every time we sell something to them, we buy two items back.It's a raw deal and there's no way of getting around that.There's no way you're going to replicate 80 % of your economy and change it overnight just because you got elbows up.Remember, and I will say it because it's very important, we no longer have our elbows up, we have our ankles up.And frankly, the time to play this kind of game is over.It's time to recognize our mess that we created and get on with making a better deal not just with the Americans, but a better deal recognizing, reconnoitering where Canada is in the world.

And one of them is not cozying up to China, it's standing up to China and it's many friends.

Dan McTighe, thank you so much for coming on the show.We appreciate it as always.

Good to be here.

Thanks for having me, Mark.If you enjoyed this show, consider supporting great independent journalism by becoming a premier member of Judo News.Please go to judonews .com backslash straight up.You can find the link below.It helps us do what we do here.

Thank you so much.We'll see you next time.