The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz this week said the Canadian economy likely contracted in the second quarter. The Globe's David Parkinson writes that Mr. Poloz said Canada met the "technical" definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product. Former Statistics Canada economic analyst Philip Cross, who was the architect of the methodology for tracking recessions, says the two-quarters definition is "simplistic nonsense," based on little more than a misunderstanding from a 1967 research paper that noted recessions in the United States typically lasted at least six months. Mr. Cross says, "People took it as a definition rather than an observation." The Globe says there are no precise criteria for officially defining a recession in Canada. Most experts say the notion of two straight quarters of GDP contraction is merely a starting point for discussion, not a sole determinant. Mr. Cross says the current "mild contraction," as Mr. Poloz calls it, lacks several key elements. He says, "If it is a recession, it would be a very unusual one." Scotiabank economist Derek Holt says we are not in a "meaningful" recession.