When people focus on the recent record of the Canadian economy, they point in particular to the contrast with the United States where the economy has been operating at close to full capacity over the past couple of years. The United States is by far our most important trading partner.
And in the past, economic developments in Canada have tended to follow reasonably closely those in the United States. Naturally, people want to know what is different this time. The fact that the Canadian economy has not been expanding at a strong pace is also worrying to governments trying, as they are, to address budgetary problems.