The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that if the Toronto Stock Exchange were to be held accountable for its poor performance, it would have little defence. The Globe's Tim Shufelt writes that from GDP growth to productivity to employment to housing to financial markets and more, the data point to Canada lagging well behind the United States by nearly every economic and financial measure. The gap in stock market performance has widened over the last year, during which the S&P/TSX Composite Index is little better than flat, while the S&P 500 index has gained 21 per cent. "When it comes to the real economy, it seems anything we Canadians can do, Americans can do better," Warren Lovely, chief rates and public-sector strategist with National Bank of Canada, wrote in a report last week. BMO economist Doug Porter notes that Canada's labour productivity over the past five years has actually declined, a first in the prewar era. To an economist, there is little that matters more than productivity, as it is the basis of a country's standard of living. Mr. Shufelt notes that Canada's economy is at its best when interest rates are low, global manufacturing is humming and resource demand is strong.