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The challenge of our time

Globe and Mail Update - Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 11:25 EST

A laid-off retail manager, a self-employed consultant, a young mother and a small businessman reflect on the recession as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers the budget

More stories attached to this video

• Ignatieff to call for changes to budget  
• Communities eager to upgrade arenas  
• Harper spends big, but can he go back? 
• Betting on a recovery, with little room for bad news 
• Ottawa moves to open credit flows 
• Strings attached to infrastructure funds 
• Stimulus falls short for many women 
• EI changes fail to garner experts' praise 
• Budget offers a $70-billion credit kickstart 
• Cash and tax breaks for the carbon agenda 
• Ottawa pins recovery on home reno boom 
• Car dealers welcome $12-billion boost 
• Fate of budget, coalition in Ignatieff's hands 
• Text of Finance Minister Flaherty's budget speech 
• The Ceolins: We like it but wanted more 
• What previous governments did 
• Flaherty's got deficit religion – but can he attain fiscal salvation? 
• Ignatieff weighs budget response 
• Ignatieff puts Harper Tories ‘on probation' 
• The budget and you 
• Rob Carrick on the 2009 federal budget 
• Budget fails to quell criticisms of Prime Minister, poll suggests 

OTTAWA — The federal budget is built on the belief that within a year all the stimulus packages being introduced around the world will fuel a stunning recovery for the global economy.

Not since the Great Depression have the world's major economic powers sunk into a recession at the same time, but, according to the government, the Canadian economy will shrink by less than 1 per cent this year and bounce back smartly in 2010.

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