OTTAWA - Two of Canada's largest banks are predicting a deeper and longer recession for Canada as a result of the worsening global situation.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank's new prediction is among the gloomiest by traditional forecasters in seeing no glimmer of a turn-around until at least 2010.
The bank says the Canadian economy will contract in each quarter of this year for an average annual fall-back of 2.4 per cent -- twice the Bank of Canada's projection.
As well, the bank says 500,000 Canadians will lose their jobs by the end of this year, more than the total job losses of the early 1990s recession.
The Royal Bank is more sanguine, but it too says the recession will be deeper and longer than it predicted three months ago.
The RBC report says the economy will contract 1.4 per cent this year before bouncing back moderately with a 2.4 per cent advance in 2010.
