Millions of dollars will be spent today as Canadians rush to get that last gift for that special some one.

 

If you're planning on finishing your Christmas shopping today, you might want to reconsider. Visa Canada is predicting that today will be the busiest shopping day of 2006.

Spokesperson Amy Cole says they survey 15 hundred Canadians and ask them when they start and when they will finish. "When we crunched the numbers the 22nd came out as the busiest shopping day. We've also been tracking the busiest shopping day since 1997 and while the busiest day is traditionally 2 days before Christmas Day, normally it would be the 23rd, in 2000 and 2001 when Christmas fell on a Monday or a Tuesday the busiest day defaulted to Friday."

If today is your only chance to shop, Cole recommends avoiding the hours between 2 and 4 when the stores will be their busiest.

Twenty-nine percent of shoppers surveyed in Saskatchewan and Manitoba still haven't finished their Christmas shopping.