Front Burner

Are we in a 'hidden' recession?

Unemployment is high. People are spending less and struggling to pay their debts. Everything remains incredibly expensive. So are we in a recession?
A man gestures while speaking during a news conference and a woman is shown seated to his right.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem and senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers are shown following their interest rate announcement on Wednesday. (Blair Gable/Reuters)

After the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates at an unprecedented pace the last couple of years, there's been a lot of talk about whether we'll be tipped into a recession. Now, as rates have finally started to come down, a lot of people are struggling. Unemployment's gone up, people are accumulating debt, and despite inflation cooling, everything still seems really expensive. 

So, it can start to feel like we're in a recession. But most experts aren't calling it one. So what is it? BMO Financial Group's chief economist Doug Porter joins us to talk about the state of the Canadian economy and how to make sense of it.

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