The eco­nomic slow­down in Canada has — at least so far — been less severe than the crush­ing finan­cial trou­bles that have weak­ened the U.S. economy.

However, Canada’s econ­omy is tightly linked to that of its south-​​of-​​the-​​border neigh­bor, as today’s Globe and Mail reports:

The suc­cess of the new U.S. stim­u­lus pack­age in sta­bi­liz­ing finan­cial mar­kets is cru­cial for Canada’s eco­nomic recov­ery, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says.

In com­ments to the House of Commons Finance Committee on Tuesday, Mr. Carney defended his con­tro­ver­sial pro­jec­tions for 3.8-per-cent growth in Canada’s econ­omy next year. But he warned that the financial-​​markets aid pack­age being intro­duced by Washington to mobi­lize more than $1-​​trillion (U.S.) needs to work in order for the Canadian pro­jec­tions to materialize.

The good news is:

(Mr. Carney) said Canada has many things going for it, allow­ing a quicker recov­ery here. Mr. Carney pointed to Canada’s hefty inter­est rate cuts, the well-​​functioning bank­ing sys­tem, the depre­ci­a­tion of the loonie, fis­cal stim­u­lus, a recov­ery in emerg­ing mar­kets that lifts com­mod­ity prices, and solid bal­ance sheets among Canadian house­holds and businesses.

Photo ©Alan Albert