The economy needs action ... now

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By Jim Dumville

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Do you recall the early moments of the English-language televised leaders' debate during Canada's recent federal election?

That's when Liberal leader Stephane Dion, as he did the day before in the French-language debate, introduced what he called his five-point plan to deal with the global economic crisis which was picking up speed at the time.

Remember how Prime Minister Stephen Harper reacted.

"You're panicking Stephane," the prime minister pointedly told the Liberal leader.

He then proceeded to criticize his opponents for painting a needlessly gloomy picture of pending doom. Canada was in great shape, Prime Minister Harper to Canadians during that debate. While we could expect an economic downturn, Canada, unlike other nations of the world, would be able to ride the waves of the perfect economic storm.

Flash forward to last week. There was Prime Minister Harper, with other world leaders following the Asia-Pacific Economic Council (APEC) meeting in Peru, taking the most negative stand of the group. While other leaders predicted a end to the economic carnage sometime in the near future, Harper was preparing Canada for the worst.

No wonder Canadians are dazed and confused. They are getting mixed messages, not only from governments around the globe, but also from within their own government.

It is obvious the Harper government will run a major deficit, perhaps as early as this year. Government's throughout the world are loading billions – even trillions in come cases – of dollars into programs to stimulate the market. It's almost unanimous among leading economists that government spending may be the only way to stop the economic bleeding.

Harper and Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty agree it must offer a economic spending package to jump start the Canadian manufacturing sector and to at least slow down the loss of jobs. But, unlike other members of the G20, the Canadian government is not in a hurry to take action. Harper and Flaherty will wait until tabling its budget in February before announcing any major spending program. Canada may not be able to wait that long.

The contrast between the re-elected Harper government and the newly elected Obama administration is stark. Even as he awaits to officially take over the office on Jan. 20, President-elect Barack Obama is taking action. In Canada, Harper government, which for almost three years has been at the controls of the Canadian economy, is standing around watching.

While the causes of the world economic collapse exist mainly outside Canada's borders, the impact within Canada is real. The responsibility to prepare for what many predicted would be economic disaster was the responsibility of this government. The Harper government ignored the problem until it was too late. Now they are delaying a response. Canada needs and deserves better.