Both Canada and Australia have parliamentary elections coming up in the next few weeks, noted Bank of Montreal (BMO).

Both have roughly similar inflation rates and similar gross domestic product growth rates for 2024, said the bank. However, the comparisons may end there when looking at their relative economic performance over the past few decades.

The relative size of the two nations in population terms has been broadly stable, with smaller Australia growing a bit faster, pointed out BMO. The latest readings have Canada's population at 41.5 million versus just over 27 million in Australia, or a ratio of about 1.5:1.

However, things are different if you take a look at nominal GDP over that stretch, stated the bank. In the late 1980s, Canada's GDP was almost double the size of Australia's -- with the latter converted to Canadian dollars at the exchange rate at the time.

In the past 10 years, that ratio has tumbled to around 1.25 -- admittedly, it has been pretty stable at that low ratio over that period, pointed out BMO. But something really significant shifted from about 15-20 years ago -- around the financial crisis -- which transformed Australia from having a much lower GDP per person to now much higher than Canada, when expressed in a similar currency.