The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday, Dec. 9, edition that the Bank of Canada is expected to maintain its policy rate at 2.25 per cent on Wednesday, following stronger job gains and a healthier economy in the third quarter. The Post's Jordan Gowling writes that Desjardins economist Jimmy Jean said, "There is no major reason to cut rates further at this time." After a 1.6-per-cent contraction in the second quarter, the economy grew by 2.6 per cent in the third quarter, surpassing the BOC's forecast of 0.5 per cent, driven by federal defence spending and a better trade balance. Mr. Jean said: "This is an economy that is soft, but is certainly not in recession. We knew the tariff escalation would inject a lot of volatility in the numbers and that's what we're seeing." A jobs report on Friday indicated that the Canadian economy added 54,000 jobs, mainly part-time, with the unemployment rate dropping 0.4 percentage points to 6.5 per cent. Since September, 181,000 jobs have been added, and the jobless rate has decreased by 0.6 percentage points. RBC economists say, "Labour markets have also shown more signs of stabilizing with employment rising 54,000 in November after already firm increases in September and October."