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. This was broadly in line with Bay Street estimates but below the central bank's downwardly revised forecast of 1.5-per-cent annualized growth. 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. "The GDP numbers should help to reinforce that interest rates are higher than they need to be to maintain inflation sustainably at a 2 per cent rate," Nathan Janzen, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada, said in a note to clients.