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(Image Credit: Office of Chris Warkentin)
By Nathaniel Leigh with files from The Canadian Press
Federal Politics

MP Chris Warkentin responds to Statistics Canada announcing Canada recession

Jun 2, 2026 | 1:22 PM

Grande Prairie’s Member of Parliament is responding to reports Canada has entered a recession.

Chris Warkentin is sharing his reaction to Statistics Canada’s announcement and says Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to reverse the damage done by 11 years of bad policies.

Warkentin says Canada needs a real plan to unleash its economy, retain fleeing investment, and put money into the pockets of Canadians.

He says a real plan would end inflationary spending and credit card deficits.

Click here to read the full statement.

Meantime, Prime Minister Mark Carney says the government’s plan to build up the economy is “settling in” as work continues on getting major projects built and expanding non-U.S. trade relationships.

In his first public comments on the state of the economy since Statistics Canada reported two consecutive quarters of economic decline last week, Carney said the numbers show signs of “weakness.”

When asked by a reporter Tuesday morning whether he thought Canada was in a recession, Carney did not answer directly.

Carney said on his way into a cabinet meeting that cuts to immigration and government spending are weighing on growth. He also said the work to pivot the economy is going to take time to pay off.

The prime minister pointed to positive signs in the latest economic report, including increasing business investment in machinery and equipment and household income growth outpacing inflation.

Many economists have dismissed the recession label, arguing the recent slump doesn’t have the depth or breadth to meet that bar.

Appearing before a parliamentary committee on Monday, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers warned MPs against putting too much stake in one economic indicator — particularly when there’s a great deal of “noise” in the data.

“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,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press

by Nathaniel Leigh with files from The Canadian Press