An exclusive Reuters report says Canadian commercial lending growth accelerated in the third quarter, showing smaller businesses expanded even as Europe's deepening debt crisis rattled investors worldwide, according to a PayNet report.

PayNet said on Thursday its Canadian Business Lending Index rose 6% from the second quarter and 13% year over year. It was the first quarter of double-digit year-on-year growth since early 2008.

Additionally, the report says the quarter-over-quarter jump was the biggest since the beginning of 2007, before the global financial crisis knocked the economy into recession. The commercial finance sector includes non-bank players such as machinery makers, whose loans and leases to customers are secured against the equipment sold.

Reuters quotes William Phelan, PayNet’s president and founder as saying, "The Canadian economy is making a big comeback. There's some underlying strength here that's not being reported elsewhere. It's not showing up in the sentiment indices, it's not showing up in the stock market but it is showing up in this very large portion of the GDP for the Canadian economy."

According to the report, Phelan characterized Canada's economy as steadier and healthier than that of its largest trading partner, despite less rapid growth, describing the "saw tooth" U.S. recovery as two steps up, one step down.