The Limits of Prediction: What 2025 Taught Us and the Constraints Shaping 2026

Welcome to Season 2 of Canada’s Economy, Explained! 

Host Marwa Abdou opens the season by stepping back from the usual ritual of economic forecasting to ask a more fundamental question: What happens when the systems shaping our economy are tested in real time? 

Before looking ahead to 2026, this episode examines what the past year revealed about the limits of prediction, the persistence of economic constraints, and the growing gap between intention and institutional capacity. Because economies do not run on data alone. They run on decisions. And those decisions ultimately shape trust. 

Marwa is joined by returning guest Andrew DiCapua, Principal Economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, who shares his six economic predictions for the year ahead, from interest rates and trade to business investment, consumption and consumer sentiment. Together, they explore why the outlook may be more conditional than certain, and why stability on paper does not always translate into confidence on the ground. 

But this conversation goes beyond forecasts — it introduces the central lens for the season: How power operates within the economy, who sets the rules and whether Canada’s systems are prepared to deliver on the ambitions they signal. 

If last season focused on the importance of trust, this season asks what makes trust possible. Because in a world of finite resources, the future is not simply predicted. It is chosen.