Invest in Canada

91% of Canadians say country is in recession

by investor on 07/01/09 at 1:36 pm

Nine out of 10 Canadians believe the economy is now in recession, while more than half say conditions will worsen over the next year, a poll released Wednesday said. They just don’t think it will affect them.

Some 91% of respondents in an opinion poll from market research firm Pollara said the country was already in recession. Over 55% expect economic conditions to deteriorate further, data from the Toronto-based pollster revealed.

National gross domestic product shrank 0.1% in October, according to Statistics Canada, while economists predict the economy contracted through the entire fourth quarter. StatsCan reports November GDP on Jan. 30. A technical recession is at least two successive quarters of negative growth.

“A majority of Canadians expect 2009 to be a year in which the Canadian economy worsens, employment levels drop substantially, inflation spirals, taxes surge, the national debt balloons, and the value of the Canadian dollar depreciates,” said Michael Marzolini, chairman of Pollara Strategic Insights in a news statement.

But most of the 2,670 polled feel it won’t impact them, said Mr. Marzolini, saying the poll findings represented a “perplexing disconnect.”

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