The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that economic growth in Canada slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, undershooting the Bank of Canada's forecast and putting a half-point interest-rate cut back in play for the monetary policy decision in December. The Globe's Mark Rendell writes that Canadian gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 1 per cent in July through September, down from 2.2 per cent in the second quarter, Statistics Canada reported Friday. On a per-capita basis, GDP contracted for the sixth consecutive quarter. An advanced estimate for October suggests economic activity will fall short of the central bank's forecast in the fourth quarter as well. Interest-rate swap markets now see a 45-per-cent chance the central bank will lower its policy rate by half a percentage point, up from 30 per cent. "There is no debate that the economy struggled through midsummer and the early fall, weighed on by a variety of labour actions and some weather events. However, there are signs in both the quarterly and monthly data that domestic demand is stirring," Douglas Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, said in a note. Mr. Porter still expects the BoC to cut by a quarter-point in December.