Canadian Consumers' Economic Outlook

Canadian consumer confidence remains solid: three-quarters of Canadians say the national economy today is in good shape overall, and almost one-half expect further improvement for the year ahead. In addition, optimism concerning personal finances continues to edge up, with one in three Canadians expecting their own economic situation to get better during the next 12 months.

On the provincial economic front, residents of Alberta and Ontario remain the most optimistic about the prospects for their respective provincial economies for the coming year, while most British Columbians continue to fear that economic conditions in their province will deteriorate.

These findings were yielded by a National Angus Reid Poll conducted among a representative cross-section of 1,516 Canadian adults between May 12th and 17th, 1998.

With a national sample of 1,516, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results are within ±2.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Dr. Darrell Bricker
Executive Vice-President
Angus Reid Group
(613) 241-5802

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900

Christian Bourque
Directeur senior de la Recherche
Groupe Angus Reid
(514) 877-5550