The Bank of Canada is widely expected to hold interest rates steady Tuesday. And while that may sound great to  borrowers and mortgage holders, it's a sign that the country's economy is continuing to sputter.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has raised the benchmark interest rate three times since June, to 1 per cent -- hikes that some economists now say were ill-conceived. But he kept borrowing costs steady in Oct. 19, noting an "unusually uncertain" economic outlook and persistent weakness in the U.S. economy that was hampering Canadian exports.

That uncertainty hasn't lifted much since. It was underscored again by a Statistics Canada report last week that showed that growth in the third quarter slowed to a measly 1 per cent annualized pace. That was less than the central bank's 1.6 per cent prediction, and far less than the two per cent gain in the second quarter and 5.6 per cent gain in the first.

On a monthly basis, Canada's gross domestic product unexpectedly contracted 0.1 per cent in September, the second time in three months that the economy failed to grow.

Then last week, Statistics Canada noted that while the country's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in almost two years, the economy created only 15,200 new positions. The jobs picture in the U.S. was even gloomier, with the economy there producing even fewer jobs in November than the most pessimistic forecasts.

With many saying it'll be a no-brainer for Carney to keep rates where they are on Tuesday, the focus will shift to the comments he'll have to accompany his decision. Specifically, economists will be looking what clues he'll offer on when the outlook will brighten and when rates could change.

"Not since the summer of 2008 have clients been subject to such divergent opinions ... surrounding the likely future path for the Bank of Canada's overnight rate," Scotia Capital economists Derek Holt and Gorica Djeric said in a note to clients.

Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, agreed.

"There's a very active debate about when the bank should start raising again that ranges from as early as January next year to sometime in 2012," he said in comments to The Canadian Press. "That's a wide range."