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Finance Canada has issued a rebuttal of a politically embarrassing report on middle-class economic woes that was compiled last fall by experts in another federal department.

The duelling analyses highlight an economic issue almost certain to dominate the federal election campaign next year, as political parties cite the same data to make opposite points.

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Last October, bureaucrats at Employment and Social Development Canada wrote a scathing internal report on the plight of the middle class, calling the Canadian dream “a myth more than a reality.”

The report, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, was immediately hailed by opposition parties as proof of the financial straits of Canadian families, but it was dismissed by cabinet ministers as outdated and misleading.

In April this year, Finance Canada economists put together a more detailed rebuttal for the new minister, Joe Oliver, using the same data but interpreting them in a more positive way.