Canada is poised to emerge from the recession as the economy accelerates, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a speech Friday to the U.K.-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Flaherty, who was on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London, assured a business audience that Canada will be able to withstand the economic crisis.
He quoted an unnamed colleague's description of the economy, saying, "In November, the ball rolled off the table and it hasn't hit the floor yet."
The most accurate description he has heard, Flaherty said, is that "we are closer to the bottom and I think that is fairly descriptive of how I see things."
The government is taking necessary steps, he assured the audience, so that Canada will accelerate out of the recession.
"So I say to you with a degree of confidence that I think is warranted that the Canadian situation is strong, that our fiscal and monetary situations are both strong and that we're taking the necessary steps to move out of this recession."
Canadians have survived through other hardships, Flaherty said, including the recession in the 1990s.
"Most people in Canada came from other places, including the United Kingdom. Most of them came on boats. Most of them came with nothing. Many of whom died because of disease while they were travelling to Canada," he said.
"Relatively speaking this is a mild economic recession. We will come out of this strongly. We are able to withstand this," Flaherty added.
After his speech, Flaherty told reporters that Canada was in a good position to recover quickly once the economy starts to rebound.
"We do not have high interest rates in this recession, we do not have the housing bubble in Canada unlike some other countries where people are losing their houses," Flaherty said.
He did say Canada's employment numbers were challenging and that more "bad" figures will come.
"But we entered this recession later than most countries and we will exit it with strength," Flaherty said.
Statistics Canada will release Canada's job numbers for March next week.
U.S. figures released Friday show employers south of the border slashed 663,000 jobs in March, sending the jobless rate to 8.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, Flaherty said he did not see any urgent need to revise his January estimate that the economy would shrink by 0.8 per cent in 2009. The OECD is predicting a 3.0 per cent decline.
"I think we're certainly looking at negative growth. I don't think Canadians are that concerned if it's '2-point-this' or '1-point-that'," he said.
"What they are concerned about is the government taking the necessary steps to ease the impact on those who will lose their jobs."
Flaherty is in London for the G20 summit, which wrapped up on Thursday.
