The Canadian economy: trade, trends, and forecasting the future

In this video:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global financial crisis and has severely disrupted the Canadian economy, the livelihoods and small businesses of Canadians, and consumer confidence. The Canadian economy has never been faced with such a unique challenge before. As parts of the economy begin to open across the country, economic policy-makers are working in unparalleled uncertainty.

On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, we were joined by Craig Alexander, Chief Economist, Deloitte Canada, and The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, Executive Advisor – International, Deloitte Canada. Together we discussed the current state of the Canadian economy and, views on what the shape of the recovery will look like, a general economic outlook, and how the pandemic has impacted Canada’s trade and relations with other nations.

Key webinar content

Core topics

• A current macro view of both the world and Canadian economies
• Caution when interpreting economic data
• The shape of the economic recovery in Canada
• Trends that were in place before the pandemic that are still relevant today
• Trends that have been accelerated by the pandemic
• Trends that have emerged as a direct result of the pandemic
• Political risks and the role of government in making decisions for businesses
• The role of governments in crisis and the likelihood of government expansion
• The decline of multilateralism
• Canada’s outlook should global trade move in a protectionist direction
• The impact of the Canadian government’s stimulus plan vis-à-vis the shape of the recovery
• How border closings effect trade and geopolitics
• Making sense of the current stock market

Memorable quotes

“We are in a world where multilateralism is not coming back … you will see the government playing a much bigger role in trade negotiations. As a Canadian, I’m quite pleased with that starting point. We are the only G7 country that has a trade agreement with every other G7 economy.” – Pierre Pettigrew

“I would say the (stock) market is pretty much priced for the perfect recovery right now. I don’t think the market fully appreciates how difficult this reopening could be.” – Craig Alexander

Additional Resources

Click the above image to view slides, or download the slide deck presentation.

Economic recovery dashboard, Deloitte

Note: This article was originally published under our former name, The Ivey Academy. We are now known as Ivey Executive Education.

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