Mark Carney Must Reverse His Recessionary Policies
Ottawa, ON – Today, Conservatives introduced a motion calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to immediately present a plan to reverse all the economic policies of his Liberal government that have resulted in Canada being the only country in the G7 in a recession.
While Liberals in the House of Commons create their illusion denying there is a recession, Canadians know the reality: In the first quarter of this year, Canada’s real Gross Domestic Product shrank 0.1 per cent following a 1 per cent annualized contraction in the last quarter of 2025. Since Carney took office, the economy shrunk in three of the last four quarters, shrinking by a staggering $1.36 billion.
By keeping all the anti-development laws, excessive red tape and high taxes, the Liberal government has driven capital out of the country, with business investment falling 0.7 per cent in the first quarter – its fifth consecutive quarterly decline. Not only have these policies led to the first recession since the global pandemic, but while other G7 countries face the same global factors; Canada is the only one in a recession.
These are not abstract figures; they translate to real-world hurt. In the first four months of this year, 112,000 Canadians lost their jobs with the second-highest unemployment in the G7. The unemployment rate rose to 6.9 per cent, the highest level in half a year, while the number of Canadians trapped in longer-term unemployment is 31.6 per cent higher than before the pandemic.
Equifax reports that insolvency volumes increased to levels not seen since 2009, rising nearly 19 percent year-over-year. In the first three months of this year, 1.5 million Canadians missed a debt payment, while mortgage delinquency rates climbed 32 per cent year-over-year. In fact, Canada has the highest household debt in the G7 by far.
As the economy shrinks, household debt rises and jobs disappear, more Canadians are being forced to rely on food banks just to get by. The CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank testified that one-tenth of Greater Toronto Area residents now eat at a food bank. Last year alone saw a record 4.1 million visits, a 340 per cent increase from 2019.
While in New York, Carney said that “a country that can’t feed, fuel or defend itself is not truly sovereign.” Yet that’s exactly the reality facing Canadians today: millions relying on food banks, tens of thousands out of work, and the only shrinking economy in the G7.
Canada’s economic decline over two consecutive quarters is not a technicality: This recession is real. Speeches, fake MOUs, discussion papers, photo-ops and other illusions will not reverse the damage or stop the economic hemorrhaging.
The Liberal government needs to reverse course now. It’s time for the Prime Minister to present a plan.