Despite the Bank of Canada governor's warning that low oil prices will have an "atrocious" effect on the Canadian economy, Finance Minister Joe Oliver is encouraging Canadians to look at the longer term and the bigger picture.

Oliver's comments come on the heels of a Financial Times story quoting Poloz saying "the first quarter of 2015 will look atrocious" because of low oil prices.

"The governor also said that he expects a stronger recovery in the latter part of the year. That, of course, has been ignored because of his comments about the early part of the year," said Oliver. "But we'll definitely expect growth to start re-emerging because of the strength of the U.S. economy."

Oliver maintained that the negative effects of plunging oil prices will ease off later in the year. Oil prices recently fell to less than $50 a barrel, from more than $100 a barrel last June.

The Bank of Canada reacted to the slide in prices by cutting interest rates to 0.75 per cent, from 1 per cent, in January.

Poloz told the Financial Times on Monday that big spending by businesses -- known as capital expenditures -- could fall by as much as 10 per cent as a result of energy companies cutting back on investment.

Despite Poloz's concerns about the first quarter, he also told the Financial Times that the Canada-U.S. exchange rate could encourage a recovery for Canadian exporters. And he said the auto-parts manufacturing sector is "turning around nicely" after losing some jobs to Mexico.

The governor's comments come just one day before the release of the latest GDP numbers.

TD Economist Randall Bartlett told CTV’s Power Play that he agreed with Poloz that the first quarter will come in "flat."

"I think when you look at it in a bigger picture, in sort of the annual context or the fiscal year context, we're expecting growth to come in just shy of two per cent in 2015," said Bartlett. "In the near term, it's going to be very weak. There's absolutely no question there at all."

Bartlett added he does not expect the Bank of Canada to announce another interest rate cut anytime soon.

Budget date?

Citing Poloz' "atrocious" comment, the opposition parties pressed Oliver for a budget date in question period Monday, but the finance minister did not commit to a specific day.

"As regards to the budget, stay tuned," said Oliver, speaking in French.

In January, Oliver announced that the government would delay the release of the federal budget, which is normally presented in February, until at least April, citing the effect of low oil prices.