In many ways it will be difficult to sing Auld Lang Syne to 2012 tonight when the clock strikes midnight.

All in all, it wasn't a bad year for Canada.

While Europe continues its struggle to survive its collective fiscal chaos, and the United States still teeters on the edge of its fiscal cliff, Canada's economy pretty well remains the envy of much of the world.

This is nothing to take for granted.

The left can hiss all it wants, but if not for the deft management of our economy by the Harper government, and the steady hand of departing Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, Canada could very well be part of the same basket case as the U.S., both our closest neighbour and our largest trading partner.

It wasn't just luck that had Canada escaping the worst of the bad times.

It was good management, solid banking regulations, controlled stimulus spending and buying into the right bailouts that has Canada going into 2013 with optimism.

By luck of geography, Canada sits on a motherlode of natural resources that will fuel our children's futures well into the next millennium and beyond. And once the left comes to its senses, and realizes that Big Oil is not an eco-terrorist in pinstripes, the sooner Canada can help developing nations fuel their own futures.

There is nothing Pollyanna about this.

In fact, we hope our optimism for the future becomes infectious, and that the left finally begins to realize just how small its thinking is.

As Canadians we should be thankful for these riches, and telling our politicians to stop focusing on their own careers and their own chances at re-election and, for the first time in their careers, think about the greater good of all Canadians.

Yes, putting principle before politics is becoming a foreign concept in this country, but the prosperity of the nation and the average Canadian must become the No. 1 goal.

But this is not happening.

Self interest and outright selfishness has taken control of much of our politics.

If this can be set aside in 2013, Canada will be both literally and figuratively on top of the world.

Happy New Year to that.