CNN acknowledges Canada’s success, existence
Recent boosts to Canada’s public profile haven’t exactly been polishing the brand: we’ve already mentioned the wretched Lake Shore (’nuff said), and then there was that episode of the guy who flew from Hong Kong to Vancouver disguised as an old man. CNN has been covering the latter story like it was the moon landing, because a) it somehow got an exclusive, beating out every Canadian network, and b) anything involving planes, latex and deception plays on modern fears. There’s good news this week, though, as CNN’s sibling Fortune is willing to give Canada some kudos where it counts: for our financial swagger.
David Rosenberg, economist for Gluskin Sheff, thinks it really is Canada’s moment. “I’ve been in the economic analysis and forecasting business for three decades and don’t recall a time, ever, where on the fiscal, economic or political basis, relative to the United States, the downside risks were as limited and upside potential so compelling in Canada as is the case today,” he says. “No bank failed during the crisis, no bank went cap-in-hand to the government, and no bank even cut its dividend. The federal government is running a structural deficit that is a fraction of that of the U.S.; the Conservative party in power is distinctly pro-business. And, oh, by the way: Canada is rich in natural resources that China wants to buy.”
It’s true that the Canadian government is running a C$56 billion deficit, but from a global perspective, that’s chickenfeed. If that’s the only deficit you’re running, you’re a global tightwad. And by the way, that C$56 billion translates into US$56.1 billion as of this morning, a major point of pride in the land that brought us both Will Arnett and The Tragically Hip.
Thanks, Fortune, for noticing our existence up here without noting how trashy our reality TV stars are. Canada’s financial success isn’t exactly news—it was kind of a big deal leading up to the G20 summit last summer—but maybe this will be the new show-stopping argument Canadians can break out in case of rhetorical emergency: instead of “Oh yeah? Well, health care!” we can now go with “Oh yeah? Well, solvent financial institutions!”
Of course, the shout-out to the Hip should be a hint of something: the author is Canadian. We hope that doesn’t mean this only gets partial credit. We could use the warm fuzzy since we read TechCrunch’s list of reasons why they’ll never open a Canadian franchise.
