Gloomy outlook for economy

OTTAWA—It’s not a pretty picture for Canada’s economy going into a new year.
As bad as it’s been over the past few months, even the rosiest of economic forecasts predict that, on average, Canadians will get poorer in 2009.

And many—perhaps as much as 200,000—will be out of work.
As Merrill Lynch’s Canadian chief economist, David Wolf, puts it, most people in this country have never seen so much uncertainty.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper even has talked about the prospects of a depression.
But Bank of Montreal deputy chief economist Douglas Porter isn’t as gloomy.
Porter said it appears governments have learned the lessons from the Great Depression, and are not sitting idly by as the cancer spreads.
The U.S., Europe, China, and others already have spent feverishly to stimulate their economies.
And Harper has suggested spending measures in the $20-billion range could be included in the Jan. 27 budget—even if it’s all borrowed money.
Most economists expect Canada’s shrinking economy will mean three things in 2009: lower corporate profits, lower government revenues, and, most importantly, lower wages.
The latest projections also suggest unemployment will rise to about eight percent, from the current 6.3 percent, resulting in something Canadians also haven’t seen in a generation—job losses in the range of 200,000.