By The Canadian Press             

TORONTO – Moody’s Investor Services is renewing Canada’s debt rating at triple-A, the highest possible.

The firm said the AAA rating was warranted due to the country’s high degree of economic resiliency, efforts by Ottawa and the provinces to deal with their debt ratios over the coming years and other factors.

Moody’s says the state of Canada’s housing market and Quebec’s sovereignty issues do pose some risk, but the risks are low.

The housing market also poses some risk because many mortgages are insured by a federal Crown corporation.

But Moody’s says it considers a major downturn of the housing market as unlikely and, even in an extreme case, Ottawa’s extra costs would be relatively small.

Similarly, Quebec’s sovereignty movement doesn’t seem to pose a significant risk since the issue doesn’t appear high on the political agenda