Weekend Listen: Are we in a recession? Not technically

Enjoy this special feed drop of our sister show "In This Economy?!" Following a negative performance for economic growth in the first quarter of 2026, the Canadian economy fell into what's been described as a "technical recession". While the headline was pounced on for political debate, with such a small decline (just a 0.1% contraction) and some parts of the economy still doing quite well, economists are downplaying the significance of all this recession talk. Nevertheless, under the weight of the trade war with the U.S., there are a lot of questions around the recent signals by the Bank of Canada even talking about hiking interest rates and whether the central bank will be changing its message to the markets next week with it's policy announcement on June 10th. Host Mike Eppel speaks with Royce Mendes, the managing director and head of macro strategy at Desjardins, about this so-called "recession", and what the consequences of reading too much into it might be. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky