In first remarks after Canada enters ‘technical recession,’ Carney acknowledges ‘weakness’ in economy

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OTTAWA - While Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged weaknesses in the Canadian economy, he also defended the federal government’s economic agenda on Tuesday and did not use the word “recession.”

“This government’s been in the process of laying the foundations for a stronger, more resilient, more independent Canadian economy,” Carney said Tuesday when asked directly by reporters in Ottawa about whether Canada is in a recession.

“That process is settling in during that time as we make major investments, major changes to how the government operates, how we do major projects, how we have new trade agreements with other countries.”

Carney’s comments were his first on the issue after Statistics Canada data on Friday showed a slight contraction of gross domestic product (GDP) for two straight quarters, meeting the technical definition of a recession.

The annualized rate of GDP in the final three months of 2025 dropped one per cent, and in the first quarter of 2026, it was down by 0.1 per cent.

The prime minister said part of the economic slowdown is due to “clear decisions by the government,” including reining in immigration and government spending.

“There’s some other choppiness in terms of how investment is happening, but we’re also seeing at the same time, the foundations coming into place, settling in for that stronger, more resilient economy,” Carney added.

During last year’s federal election, Carney campaigned on building “the fastest growing economy in the G7,” but since then, he has also spoken to the uncertainty surrounding the trade relationship with the U.S. and its impact on the Canadian economy.

Speaking to a House of Commons committee on Monday, Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said Canadians “need to be careful not to put too much weight into any one indicator.”

“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 need to really look past that one indicator,” Rogers said.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s request for an emergency debate on the state of Canada’s economy, meanwhile, was denied by the Speaker of the House Monday afternoon.

Asked directly on Tuesday about whether he blames Carney for a recession, Poilievre would not explicitly answer and acknowledged how U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies are “affecting all G7 countries.”

“It seems that the other countries, despite Mr. Trump’s unfair tariffs, have been able to craft policies to avoid recession. It’s only here, under Mark Carney’s policies, that we find ourselves in a recession,” Poilievre said.

“(Canadians) deserve a prime minister who will look them in the eye and say admit that there is a recession,” Poilievre later added.

With files from CTV News’ Abigail Bimman