Commodities keep recession at bay

Canada’s natural resource and agricultural riches are benefiting Canadians in all provinces and giving the country a “major measure of independence” that will keep it from being dragged down by the U.S. recession, the Canadian Imperial Bank says.
The rosy CIBC assessment conflicts in tone with a Bank of Canada study, also released yesterday, showing more businesses are bracing for slower growth this year.
But the two reports actually paint a similar picture of a fairly resilient Canadian economy bowed but not defeated by the U.S. recession and tight credit conditions.
“There’s going to be a fairly significant deceleration of growth and Ontario maybe no growth at all, but at the same time, Canada is going to escape the recession in the U.S. as it did in 2001,” said CIBC chief economist Jeff Rubin.