A Long Period of Slow Growth Bigger Worry Than Recession for Ontario: Duncan

(The Canadian Press)

Ontario’s finance minister says people should be more concerned about a long period of slow growth rather than the possibility of a recession amid turbulence in U.S. financial markets.

Dwight Duncan says financial uncertainty south of the border will continue to provide challenges for Ontario as weak economic conditions carry over into next year.

While there’s no data to show the province is headed into a recession, Duncan says he’s more worried about a protracted period of relatively modest growth.

He says a few negative quarters wouldn’t be as bad as a slowdown in real growth.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontario is inextricably linked to the U.S. and has no way of completely shielding itself from that country’s challenges.

But McGuinty says that doesn’t make Ontario helpless and points out that, for the first quarter of the year, the province’s numbers are on budget.