Well the results from the RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook Survey were released, showing just how financially smart Canadians think they are – and how they think the rest of the country compares with those smarts. The results are shown in the graph below and, as you can see, if any of us needs financial advice we may as well just pack our bags and head out West right now. It’s these provinces that believe they have the most financial smarts in the country. It’s also these provinces that think the rest of the nation needs a whole lot of schooling before we can even start to compare. Here’s the graph, and a look at some of the other results.
42% of Atlantic Canadians feel as though their economy is worse than it was three months ago and/or feel that it will slow down in the coming three months. This, says an economist at RBC, is because of the commodities Atlantic Canada has; or rather, a lack of them.
“The commodities boom is still very much alive in the country and, with Atlantic Canada’s economies generally less centered on natural resources, we expect to see a slower pace of growth in the region in comparison to the national average,” says Craig Wright, senior vice president and chief economist at RBC.
But those natural resources are a’plenty in the Prairie provinces, and that’s why here, 76% of survey respondents believe that their economy is going to improve. And it’s really no wonder why. Although these regions of Canada also experienced the same insufferably hot and dry summer that the rest of the nation did, the drought here wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in the States. Because of that, the Prairies can continue harvesting wheat, growing their crops and, becoming a booming business.
“We expect both Saskatchewan and Manitoba to be among the provincial growth leaders this year,” says Mr. Wright. “Both provinces are benefiting from higher crop prices, drive by drought-related declines in the U.S. harvest and weaker production in a number of other major agricultural regions globally. Natural resource commodities in the Prairies should also fare well from continuing demand, as the global recovery progresses.”
Alberta has always been, and according to RBC, will always be one of the booming economic provinces. Of course there’s oil there, which helps immensely, and the housing market only experienced a slight drop but is on the rebound again. Add to this the fact that more and more people continue to move to this province, and it’s easy to see why this is where a lot of the nation’s money is.
“Alberta continues to lead the other provinces in economic performance indicators by a considerable margin in most instances,” says Mr. Wright. “Capital spending in the energy sector will remain a key positive factor in the provincial economy, as will the increasing numbers of people settling in Alberta and the turnaround in the housing sector.”
Other results from the survey show that even though most of us think that we’re financially-savvy (or our province is anyway,) we’re also willing to get financial help, as shown in the chart below.
And as for our economy? Most of us have a positive outlook for it, and there’s reason to it. RBC’s Economic Outlook report shows that Canada’s economy is expected to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2012.
