Economic Crisis Results In 64 Percent Of Canadians Having A Pessimistic Outlook For 2009

Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - The global economic crisis has changed Ontario's status from the leading Canadian province to a have-not. Because of the job losses in its manufacturing sector, which pushed Ontario's unemployment rate to 7.1 percent, the province will qualify for a $374 million equalization payment from the federal government in 2009.

It will be the first time in Ontario's history that it will become the recipient of equalization payment after remitting billions of equalization pay to Ottawa the past years. As Ontario struggles to recover from the economic crisis, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney predicts the province will continue to receive equalization payments from the federal government in the coming years.

In November alone, Ontario shed 66,000 jobs, the bulk of it in the manufacturing sector. When the province ends its fiscal year on March 31, Ontario is expected to have a $500 million budget deficit. On the same day, former poor province Newfoundland and Labrador will have a large party to celebrate its upgrade to a have province.

If Ontario continues its spending pattern, the province is expected to have a $4.7 billion budget gap in 2009, according to a Toronto Dominion Bank forecast.

Meanwhile, it is not just in Ontario but in other parts of Canada that pessimism continues to hound Canadian consumers. To address this concern, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he is reviewing proposals that will place more money in residents' pockets such as reductions in corporate taxes and the launch of a tax-free savings account.

According to a joint Harris Decima and Investors Group poll, 64 percent of Canadians are pessimistic about the country's economic outlook for 2009.