Stephen Gordon

Economics professor at Université Laval.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Am having nasty flashbacks of the dumb "Harper Recesssion of 2015" rhetoric.

The only thing that's different is that Liberals and Conservatives are using the talking points the other side used in 2015.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

It took us 20 years to dig our way out from the consequences of mistaking a reduction in the growth rate for a recession in the mid 1970s.

I don't want us to make the same mistake again.

5/5

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

I keep insisting it's important to not interpret the recent reduction in the trend growth rate for a recession, and here's why: I remember what happened the last time we made that mistake.

It took us 20 years to recover, I don't want Canada to relive that lost generation.

1/5

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

So we hauled out the anti-recession playbook: expansionary fiscal and monetary policy.

But expansionary fiscal and monetary policy doesn't do anything for trend growth rates: all we got was inflation and trashed public finances.

4/5

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

@donniecameron63 Another example of things that are indeed different.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

For reasons that are the subject of another discussion, the trend rate of growth of the Canadian economy has fallen, and is probably somewhere around zero.

I KNOW, I KNOW: THIS IS A PROBLEM.

1/2

[Chris Freiman @cafreiman]

Neoliberalism *is* saving the planet

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Still current

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Too many takes on the stagnant economy / recession discussion mixes up two distinct concepts : the trend in economic growth and the business cycle.

It's pretty clear that there are serious problems in the trend.

But business cycles are fluctuations *around* trend. 1/2

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Alberta politics be crazy af

[Martyupnorth®- Unacceptable Fact Checker @Martyupnorth]

You will not lose your Canadian passport in an independent Alberta.

That's just pure fear-mongering by the "stay" side because they have no other argument.

All they have is fear and nostalgia (for a Canada that basically no longer exists).

Canada has fully recognized dual citizenship since 1977. There is no requirement to renounce Canadian citizenship when acquiring another. A Canadian-born person does not lose their citizenship simply because their province leaves Confederation. Canadian law protects citizenship by birth on Canadian soil.

Most Albertans have deep family, cultural, and economic connections across Canada. None of those ties will be broken because of independence.

[Marc Lévesque @MarcLevesqueEco]

So, it looks like GDP per capita has suddenly stopped being important (it was up 0.2% in Q1). Funny, that.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Alberta politics be crazy af

[Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 @jkenney]

Clown show. 🤡

One nutty separatist leader (Rath) says that I’m a Canadian patriot because I want to draft young Albertans “to die in the Ukraine war.”

Another nutty separatist leader (Sylvester) says that his Republic of Alberta would actually impose a military draft on young Albertans.

To fight in what war? 🧐

Albertans thinking of voting for separation to “send a message” or “get a new deal:” this is the kind of whackiness you would be enabling.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Canada's 2026Q1 real GDP was down 0.03% from 2025Q4 and 0.28% from 2025Q3.

Does anyone think that things would be materially better if 2026Q1 real GDP was *up* 0.03% from 2025Q4 and *up* 0.28% from 2025Q3?

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Technical recessions are not a thing.

[Josh Wingrove @josh_wingrove]

(Bloomberg) -- The Canadian economy edged into a technical recession as weak business and government spending drove a slight contraction in the first quarter, per @nojoudalmallees.

[Marc Lévesque @MarcLevesqueEco]

Reading commentary on this morning’s GDP data. Please, please, I beg you, stop saying that imports reduced GDP growth. Imports don’t reduce GDP. There’s a difference between an accounting convention (subtracting imports to get GDP) and a causal economic relationship.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Alberta politics be crazy AF

[Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 @jkenney]

Will have to add this to my CV.

I’m now “the Voice of Globalist Oppression”👌😆

This from the loony Alberta separatist leader who says I support national unity because I want “young Albertans being drafted to die in the Ukraine war.”

Note to frustrated federalists thinking of voting for separation just “to send Ottawa a message.” In doing so, you will be empowering kooks like Rath, helping to mainstream them and their nutty conspiracy theories.

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Both claims can be true!

[Paul Vieira @paulvieira]

🇨🇦 PM Carney has traveled the world seeking new economic and security ties, casting reliance on US trade as a weakness. On Thursday in New York, Carney delivered a different message to Wall Street: American and Canadian businesses still need each other.
https://t.co/nPpUCH7UUE

[Stephen Gordon @stephenfgordon]

Then it isn't a problem about everybody's prices, it's a problem about some peoples' incomes.

This is the fundamental category error of the whole "cost of living WTFBBQ!!!1!!!" discourse.

[Absurd Camus 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇦🇺🇦 @camus_absurd]

@stephenfgordon Aggregate wage measures mean a good chunk of the population likely aren’t seeing wages match inflation.

Id be curious to see perceptions of the economy by wage growth/income. People in general don’t like any reduction in spending power.