Waterloo Region Record: Consumer spending down in Waterloo Region, economist warns of possible ‘bigger slowdown’

“We know vacancy and job postings are still quite elevated relative to the pandemic. But this is clearly a sign that the big hiring binge that we had at the start of the year is over and momentum is slowing,” Stephen Tapp, chief economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview.

The ability of Canadian consumers to keep spending, despite substantially higher interest rates, forced the Bank of Canada to resume hiking rates in June.

While Canada’s economy has yet to dip into recession, new data from the Business Data Lab suggests that many of the country’s major cities are already heading into downturns known as “city-cessions.”