Economic uncertainty!
It’s five years to the month since COVID-19 arrived in Canada, triggering one of the most seismic economic crises in the country’s history as widespread public health measures took effect, business shuttered their doors and mass layoffs gathered pace.
The Bank of Canada slashed interest rates in response to that shock, with plunging borrowing costs eventually helping spur a rip-roaring housing market after Canadians had adjusted to the so-called “new normal.”
The pandemic may have faded into memory – but five years on Canada is grappling with another crisis, the beginning of a trade war with the US sparked by Donald Trump’s decision to slap huge tariffs on Canadian imports.