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Overall, the results, which are closely examined by the central bank, found that business sentiment in the country had almost climbed back up to its summertime high.

Donald said the outlook survey is one of the few forward-looking indicators available in Canada and she believes that more results like the report Monday would put the central bank on an even more aggressive rate-hiking path.

“If businesses continue to indicate, like they did today, that they want to hire more and spend more that’s only going to encourage the Bank of Canada to want to cool the economy before it becomes overheated,” she said.

The indicator reflecting firms’ plans to increase investment spending perked back up, close to a post-recession high, and became more broadly based across sectors and regions.

Hiring intentions have also increased since the fall, particularly in the service sectors, as labour shortages became “more intense than they were a year ago.”

“Firms plan to expand operations to accommodate sustained demand, which is evident in a rebound of investment and employment intentions since the autumn survey,” said the bank’s report, which shared results of its poll of about 100 companies.

The survey showed the share of businesses predicting they would face some or significant difficulty meeting any unexpected rush of demand had also climbed to its highest level since the 2008-09 recession.

The Bank of Canada noted capacity pressures had yet to translate into generalized wage pressures.