The Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor debunked the notion that the Canadian economy can decouple from that of the United States, in an address this morning.

“Decoupling doesn’t quite do it for me,” said Paul Jenkins today in an appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. “We need to look at the strength of demand in Asia and what’s happening in the United States and add all of that up to determine the implications for the Canadian economy.”

Jenkins said weakening exports to the U.S. will be a drag on the Canadian economy, while at the same time growth in Asia will likely keep commodity prices high. He emphasized that each of these issues must be examined and called theories of decoupling “an easy out.”

John Murray, deputy governor at the Bank, joined Jenkins in his address. Murray said the Bank anticipates an easing of growth, even in Asian countries such as China and India, due to decreased demand for exports from the U.S. “We don’t think they will be able to completely decouple from the United States,” he said. “The United States is just too important a trading partner, plus we do see some easing as well in Japan and Europe.”

The Bank still sees fairly steady and strong growth in many of these [Asian] countries, which will provide some support for commodity prices and thus the Canadian economy, Murray added. “But we have such a close trading relationship with the U.S. economy that we would even be less decoupled than the Asian economy.”

Overall, Jenkins said decoupling is a short way of suggesting that growth in Asia is going to continue. “But even there we know there are going to be spillover effects from a weaker U.S. economy, because the U.S. is buying exports from those countries. So you’ve got to work through all these channels.”

The Bank of Canada is scheduled to make its next interest rate announcement on March 4.