Chrystia Freeland said she believes Canada is now facing the “final act of the COVID recession” amid economic challenges, but she believes Canadians will pull through.“This is a period of economic turbulence,” said Freeland, speaking at a press conference on Monday. “This is the final act of the COVID recession.”Freeland said she is not going to “sugarcoat” the current situation and Canadians will face “some challenging months ahead,” citing inflation and rising interest rates.“Some people are going to see their mortgage payments rise and that is a challenge,” said Freeland.
Canadian businesses think a recession is coming. What does that mean for jobs? Freeland said the Bank of Canada will continue to step on the economic brakes as it works to try to bring down inflation, which has already resulted in a slowdown in economic activity.“I think we need to be collectively aware that is the challenge around the corner, and we just need to be prepared for that,” said Freeland. “Having said that, I also want to offer people some comfort and some confidence and the comfort is that, Canada’s economic fundamentals going into this challenging time, are really strong.”Freeland added that once Canada gets through “this specific cycle of economic turbulence,” there will be a great opportunity for the country.“Canada really is in a terrific place when it comes to critical minerals and metals when it comes to green energy,” she said. “Democracies around the world are really really keen to buy this stuff from democratic allies and what I really want to say to Canadians is let’s see this opportunity clearly.”Canada, like much of the global economy, fell into recession shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as the.