Canadian economy is number one

According to an annual index compiled by BMO Nesbitt Burns, Canada's economy is tops among the G7 countries. With a grade of 91.8 out of 100, we edged out Japan at 91.6 to rank number one. Italy with 83.6 narrowly slipped under the U.S. at 83.9 for bottom spot. The OECD average was 88.2.

The economic report card for 2006 took into account inflation, unemployment, budget deficits, current account deficits and growth.

Canada was the only nation to have a budget surplus. "Stellar fundamentals" was the phrase applied by deputy chief economist Doug Porter as Canada improved its performance over 2005 when we were also ranked number one. Not a bad habit to take into the New Year.