Being an economic optimist, I prefer to focus on the good and not the bad when considering a country's economy. Many elements of the economy are based on consumer confidence, business optimism and the feeling of our governing bodies. This is precisely why most media outlets around the world take a bull stance on the economy, and why stock analyst recommendations are 80-90% buy and hold. Reading the Toronto Star Business section I came across an interesting little article hidden on page 6 and only 5 sentences long. Finally, a small dose of economic reality; these sorts of bearish comments are hard to spot in today's mass media.

The article points out a survey done by Ipsos Ried, and asked 250 of Canada's leading CEOs opinions on the economy. Forty percent (40%) of CEOs fear a "major economic downturn" over the next two years; up from about 15% the last couple years. The CEOs were then asked to identify the most serious issues facing Canadian businesses; 24% said taxes, 21% said the high dollar, 20% said lack of skilled workers. These issues are a difficult pill to swallow as we have been told the Canadian economy is doing great but there is a dark horse we must be aware of moving forward. Time to reduce taxation and maintain competitiveness with our first world counterparts, allow immigrants to use their skills within Canada and finally don't assume surpluses mean economic superiority, all it means is we are either not investing enough in the economy, or we are overtaxed and limiting our growth potential.

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