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Over the past decade and a half, Ontario has had more than its share of economic pain.

So it’s good news that 2017 was a stronger year for the provincial economy, with Ontario among the national leaders in economic growth.

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It would be a mistake, however, to overlook the bigger picture and conclude that because it had a stronger year, Ontario’s economy is fully restored to health.

The sobering reality is the provincial economy has suffered from a prolonged period of weakness, and that strong growth will have to continue through 2018 and beyond to make up for lost ground.

Let’s start by considering what’s happened to the overall size of the Ontario economy.

Economists use a metric called “Gross Domestic Product” (GDP for short) to measure the value of all the goods and services produced in one year in a specific jurisdiction.

No single metric is perfect, but growth in inflation-adjusted, GDP per person is generally considered the best single indicator of overall economic progress.