Canadas Economy in 1996 To investigate the state of the Canadian economy, it is very useful to track Canada's six major economic goals: economic growth, economic stability, economic efficiency, economic equity, viable balance of payments, and low unemployment. At a given time, Canada is achieving some of these goals while falling behind on some of the others. When taken all into consideration, these goals give an indication of how well Canada has been doing and the stage of the business cycle the Canadian economy is in. In 1996-1997, Canada is in slight recession and is only meeting the goals of economic stability, and viable balance of payments.