The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Dec. 29, edition that Canada's economy is stalling. The Globe's Jason Kirby writes that in October, real gross domestic product was unchanged, falling short of the 0.2-per-cent growth economists had expected. October marked the fifth month in a row that the Canadian economy failed to post positive month-over-month growth, economists at National Bank of Canada noted in a recent report. The report said: "The reality is that the Canadian economy is in the doldrums. This is a bitter setback as population growth remains staggering." The report found another cause for concern in the latest economic numbers. What growth did occur was concentrated in government-related sectors such as public administration, health and education. When those are stripped away to focus on the private sector, more than 66 per cent of sectors posted stagnant or negative growth over the previous six months, something that has only happened during the past two recessions. For its part, National Bank is the only one of the Big Six banks that foresees two quarters of back-to-back negative real GDP growth next year -- the definition of a technical recession -- starting in the first quarter.