Canada’s economy no longer raises living standards. So who is it actually for?

Dr. James Thorne, Chief Market Strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, wrote this week: "The Canadian economy is dead in the way that matters as an engine of rising living standards and a place where private capital is rewarded for building the future." It just didn't die loudly enough for the old definitions. Jim and Iain have the rest of the numbers. Topics covered: ► Dr. James Thorne's assessment published this week: the Canadian economy is dead as an engine of rising living standards, that there was no Lehman moment or COVID cliff, just two negative quarters of GDP and a quiet decade-long retraction that the mainstream models failed to register because it was not dramatic enough ► David Dodge, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, telling CBC this week that Canada is in for a period of essentially zero growth for a couple of years, describing it as a necessity and the result of failure to do things over the past 15 to 20 years, with Jim and Iain noting the careful choice of 15 to 20 years to avoid placing the divergence specifically at 2015 ► The 2015 divergence Jim and Iain have been charting for years: Canadian and American living standards, capital investment, productivity, and GDP per capita tracked closely until approximately 2015 and have diverged consistently since, with Canada having the world's highest middle class in 2014 and no longer holding that distinction ► US Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2026 jobs report: 172,000 jobs added, better than expected, with April revised up from 115,000 to 179,000, and US unemployment sitting at 4.3%, approximately half of Canada's 6.9% ► Anita Anand's House of Commons statement that Canada has "the second fastest growing economy, secondly speaking, in the G7 this year and next," delivered the day after Statistics Canada confirmed the technical recession, with Jim and Iain's extended commentary on the phrase "secondly speaking" ► Jim's characterisation of Canada as a zombie economy, and his description of the mainstream media as a parasite feeding off the dying corpse while protecting the executioners of the Canadian economy ► The TransAlta Colorado acquisition of two gas plants for US $725 million as the latest example of Canadian capital flowing south because it is harder than hell to get things done in Canada, connecting directly to the trillion dollars of investment that has already left ► Jim's core question: what is this economy for if not to improve living standards, increase nutrition, extend healthy lifespans, and make people richer? Canada's economy has not done any of those things in a decade, and the beneficiaries of the current system appear to be a small number of connected insiders rather than the broad Canadian public If the economy is dead as an engine of rising living standards, what would it take to revive it and who is responsible for killing it? Let us know what you think in the comments. The Really Big Show: the thinking Canadian's daily briefing, independent and informed. 🔴 Live every weekday at 9AM PST 📍 Independent. Unapologetic. Canadian. 👉 Support the show: https://thereallybigshow.ca Subscribe | Share | Comment — help us grow independent Canadian media. #canadiannews #canadapolitics #canada #nowmedia #thereallybigshow #jamesthorne #davidDodge #canadaeconomy #zombieeconomy #canadarecession