The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
From The Toronto Star Last Thursday, as Mark Carney of the Bank of Canada was telling Canadians that the economy had stalled and that growth will remain sluggish until 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a different story for a business audience in Quebec. ÒI believe the reason we continue to govern is quite straightforward, because despite these uncertain economic times, the Canadian economy is strong,Ó he said. True, Alberta and Saskatchewan are strong thanks to oil and robust commodity demand. But the country as a whole is flirting with a recession, and Ontario is likely already in one. What Harper means by strong is that taxes are down, the loonie is up (thanks to high commodities prices) and Ottawa is not in a deficit. But in claiming that makes the Conservatives far better managers of the economy than the Liberals, Harper conveniently omits the fact his massive tax cuts were only made possible by the huge surpluses accumulated by the previous Liberal government. Nor does Harper say that his tax cuts have left him with no money to address festering problems, such as the decimation of the manufacturing sector, CanadaÕs massive infrastructure deficit, the plight of CanadaÕs aboriginal peoples, and intractable poverty. Instead, after recklessly emptying OttawaÕs coffers, Harper asserts that the Liberals would drive the country back into deficit with uncontrolled spending. But the saddest part of HarperÕs attack is that Liberal Leader Stphane Dion has let him get away with it by passively consenting to the ConservativesÕ tax cuts while not spelling out how the Liberals would pay for what they say they want to do.
