A new report by the Conference Board of Canada suggests that Alberta is set to experience the worst recession on record.
The report, Provincial Outlook Summary: No Province Spared From Recession, outlines the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic across the country. It claims that “Canada is in the midst of the worst economic downturn in decades.”
“Alberta will be hardest hit this year as it contends with the combination of restrictions on activity to slow the spread of the virus and an unprecedented drop in the price and demand for oil,” claims a summary of the report.
The report forecasts that Alberta’s unemployment rate will average a whopping 17.4% and that the province’s real GDP will contract by nearly 7%, the highest provincial contraction across Canada.
The Board predicts that a rebound will take place across the nation in the next year, with “all provinces expected to rebound strongly.”
Prior to the pandemic, Alberta’s government was predicting a budget surplus and a booming economy. However, due to the combined effects of a provincial lockdown and an oil war instigated by Russia and Saudi Arabia, Alberta’s economy has crashed.
Recently, Premier Jason Kenney blamed the Chinese Communist Party for creating “devastating public health and economic damage” across the world.
“I think the Chinese government played a significant role in the devastating public health and economic damage that is being experienced by the entire world. I do not think we should just forget this and walk past it. I think there is going to be, and there must be, a great reckoning for the role that China has played in this,” said Kenney during a virtual conference with the Canadian American Business Council.
“The fact that China allowed people to fly around the world from Wuhan even when they blocked Wuhanese travellers from the rest of China must never be forgotten. The role they played in suppressing whistle-blowing scientists who as early as December were reporting human to human transmission.”
