CTV News has chosen the ongoing economic crisis, which has pushed the country into a recession, as the top Canadian news story of 2008.

In an appearance Monday on Canada AM, CTV News President Robert Hurst and CTV National News Vice President Wendy Freeman revealed CTV's top 10 Canadian news stories.

"What we really do is look at the stories that captured headlines for a few weeks and that really riveted the country," Freeman said.

The list was compiled by a panel of Canadian journalists headed by CTV News' Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lloyd Robertson.

"This has certainly been a dramatic year in Canadian politics, but no other news story has captivated the country quite like the economic crisis," Robertson said in a statement.

The top stories are:

1. The economic crisis - The worldwide credit crunch snowballed throughout the year, sent economies into recession and threatened the very survival of North America's auto makers.

2. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government and the Governor General's decision to prorogue Parliament - Harper won a slightly improved minority government in October, was challenged by a potential Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition in December after issuing a poorly received economic update and then managed to get Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to prorogue Parliament until January.

3. Canada's ongoing mission in Afghanistan - In December, Canada's troop death toll in the war-torn country reached 103, after two IED explosions killed a total of six soldiers mere days apart.

4. New Brunswick crash kills seven teenaged basketball players - A coroner's inquest is scheduled to investigate why a van carrying a high school basketball team crossed the centre line on an icy highway and collided with an oncoming transport truck, killing seven players and the wife of the team's coach.

5. The nationwide Listeria outbreak - Twenty Canadians died and countless others were sickened after eating meat from Maple Leaf Foods that was tainted with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

6. The Julie Couillard affair - Scandal swirled around Couillard for much of the summer after she wore a low-cut dress to the swearing in of her boyfriend, ex-foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, and then it was revealed she had once been married to a Quebec biker-gang member. She also revealed Bernier once left sensitive documents at her home.

7. Brenda Martin's Mexican legal woes - Canadian Brenda Martin was returned to Canada in May after spending two years in a Mexican prison on charges that she was involved in a former employer's Internet fraud scheme.

8. The deaths of four sealers near Cape Breton Island - Four sealers from Quebec's Iles de la Madeleine died when their vessel overturned while being towed by the coast guard through icy waters.

9. The beheading of a passenger on a Greyhound bus - Vince Li, the man accused of beheading fellow Greyhound bus passenger Tim McLean in July, is charged with second-degree murder and is set to stand trial in March 2009.

10. CTV News-led investigations into the potential heath effects of the chemical bisphenol A - In October, the Canadian government was the first in the world to ban the use of the controversial chemical, which has been linked to a variety of health problems from cancer to infertility, in products such as baby bottles.

The economy topped the list again this year, as it did in 2007, but for a very different reason.

Last year's top story was the strength of the Canadian dollar and the overall health of the Canadian economy.

"We were sitting here a year ago, and the Canadian economy was booming, booming, booming, unemployment was very low, the Toronto Stock Exchange was 14,500 and the Canadian dollar was almost at par," Hurst said. "And here we are a year later."

The 2008 list also included two consumer stories: the national listeriosis outbreak and the investigations into, and new regulations for, BPA.

"Rarely do consumer stories make this top 10 list of Canadian stories," Hurst said.

However, the two stories affected "an enormous number of people," and have spurred public policy changes that will unfold throughout 2009, Hurst said.

The same is true for the story of a beheading on a Greyhound bus, which will impact the public into next year when the company's new security measures come into effect.

Starting Tuesday, December 23, CTV National News with Lloyd Robertson will include in-depth reports on each story leading up to New Year's Day.

The stories, which will be re-broadcast on CTV Newsnet the following day, will include new developments and analyze how the stories may develop in 2009.