Canadians are a bit more worried about prospects for the Canadian economy in the next year but remain confident about the longer term, a survey released today shows.

The Harris/Decima-Investors Group Index of Canadian Consumer Confidence fell 1.7 points to 86.1 from the last quarter.

The data, based on a telephone survey of 2,012 Canadians between Aug. 30 and Sept. 7, deals with five questions about current and future economic conditions.

There was a six point drop in the number who believe the Canadian economy will perform well over the one year horizon, but only a one point deterioration in confidence about the five year outlook.

“These concerns about the macro economy in the short term have not created much evidence of worry at a personal or household level. Only one in ten Canadians (11%) believe they and their family will be personally worse off next year, while more than double that number (28%) think they will be better off, up slightly from the previous quarter,” said the press release.

“Turmoil in global stock markets draws a lot of consumer attention these days, much more so than was the case 20 years ago,” said Harris/Decima president Bruce Anderson. “But the more Canadians have watched these events unfold, the more often they have come away reinforced in their view that the fundamentals of the Canadian economy are relatively sound. This permits them to anticipate that there can be short term economic setbacks without becoming highly anxious about the longer term.”

“In turn, this allows people to feel that they are fairly well inoculated from whatever economic shocks may transpire,” he added. “There is slight evidence of dampening of consumer spending, but the levels of conviction that this is a good time to make a major purchase remain at relatively high levels.”