Thumbs up for the Alberta economy!

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has issued a rather bullish economic forecast for Alberta for 2011, predicting this province along with British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland? will lead the country economically in the next 12 months.

"Alberta's economy will do well in 2011," ATB Financial Senior Economist Todd Hirsch tells 660News. "Most of the forecasters, the private sector forecasters, are expecting Alberta, along with B.C. and Saskatchewan to lead the country in economic growth.  And I think that will be true."

Hirsch says provinces with resource-based economies will fare better than their manufacturing-based cousins.

"Overall the Canadian economy will expand," says Hirsch. "We're not going back into recession, anything like that.  But it will be weaker in Central Canada, that manufacturing heartland, Ontario and Quebec.  And it will be stronger in the resource producing regions, especially Western Canada."

However Hirsch isn't predicting a return to the boom times for Alberta any time soon.

"I think it may all be tempered a little bit by the U.S. economy," adds Hirsch. "It's still soft and will remain soft in 2011.  So I'm not looking for those oil prices to average above $100 a barrel, but certainly trend higher."

He says Alberta would be an economic powerhouse if natural gas prices weren't so depressed because of oversupply.  Hirsch cites weakness in the housing market as another factor.

The Chamber of Commerce forecast -- which predicts expansion of the national economy by 2.5 percent this coming year -- is in line with other economic outlooks already out from B-MO and RBC.