There's never been any question that the Canadian spirit is filled with hope and optimism. But the latest poll ranking public opinion regarding economic resilience in seven countries does provide a little proof, in case there's any contention on the subject. A poll commissioned by career-building website Monster.ca surveyed people on competitive spirit within their homelands, and found that Canadians were most optimistic about their country's ability to bounce back from economic hardship. The survey was conducted by GfK, an independent global market research company, which polled more than 8,000 respondents in seven different countries—Canada, India, Germany, France, the U.S., Netherlands, and the U.K. When asked how they would rate their country's competitive spirit, Canadians were most confident in their economy's future: Forty-three percent of the 1,001 Canadians polled said they believe the economy will return to its previous glory and even come back stronger than ever before. Interested in how the other countries stacked up? India tailed us by only a marginal three-percent difference, while the French were the most pessimistic with only seven percent confidence in their economy. 1. Canada (43%) 2. India (40%) 3. United States (35%) 4. Germany (26%) 5. Netherlands (22%) 6. United Kingdom (20%) 7. France (7%) Only two percent of Canadians felt the country would never bounce back from recent hardships, while the younger demographics were concluded to be more confident than the general population. Income was also a factor in how people responded: Canadians in high and low income brackets were more confident in the future of the economy (51 percent and 38 percent, respectively) than medium earners (only 31 percent were optimistic). We also consider ourselves more hardworking than other nations, with 83 percent of Canadians saying we're the most industrious country globally. Photo courtesy MorgueFile/Kevin_P