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OTTAWA — Finance Minister Joe Oliver is maintaining an optimistic outlook on the economy, saying Canada will end the year with positive growth — not in recession.

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There is a new debate brewing in Canadian economic circles following last week’s interest rate cut: does the Bank of Canada need to start thinking about bringing out the monetary bazooka?

The debate about unconventional policy measures, which include quantitative easing — the very same tool the U.S. Federal Reserve deployed in the years after the financial crisis — is heating up after Governor Stephen Poloz and his team brought Canada’s benchmark interest rate closer to zero last week, with a 25 basis point cut to 0.50 per cent.

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“This feels like a period of slower growth, but not a period of contraction,” Oliver told reporters on Tuesday.

Technically, he just might be right. But so far the trend line looks grim.