Finance minister looks on bright side
OTTAWA–With Canada’s economy under pressure at home and abroad, the Harper government is trying to talk up business conditions in Canada while simultaneously jawboning against protectionism in the United States.
Despite the highest jobless rate in 11 years, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty sought to look on the bright side yesterday, saying the economic slump may be bottoming out.
"What I see in the Canadian economy are some indications of stabilization and some positive indications about people being willing to spend again," he said at an international forum in Montreal.
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Stockwell Day revealed that Canadian trade commissioners in the United States will descend en masse on Congress today to raise the alarm about protectionism.
"Part of the ongoing strategy is to bring to the attention of as many people as we can in Congress the negative effects of Buy America," Day said outside the Commons. The campaign is called "All Politics is Local Politics," Day explained. "It’s hitting at yet another level, getting the message across that Buy America and protectionism winds up hurting both economies – ours and the United States’."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has already tried to convince the White House of the dangers of nationalist rules such as Buy America, which put contracts off limits to foreign companies.
Protectionism captured national attention on the weekend when Canadian mayors endorsed blocking American firms from bidding on municipal contracts in retaliation for similar restrictions in the U.S.
The mayors’ move reflects rising fears about protectionism at the local level in the U online payday loan.S. that could bar Canadian companies from bidding on $90 billion (U.S.) worth of road, bridge and other infrastructure projects included in the U.S. economic stimulus package.
Still, Flaherty responded to the call for fresh protectionist measures in Canada by warning that any rules that limit open commerce will hurt everyone.
"Protectionism is bad for Canada and bad for the United States," Flaherty told reporters. "It’s bad for cities. It’s bad for provinces. It’s bad for American states."
After recent revelations that the federal budget deficit would soar past $50 billion (Canadian) and that the jobless rate is the worst in more than a decade, Flaherty tried to strike a positive note yesterday.
He said, as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported, that Canada was among four industrialized countries, including France, Italy and Britain, where the economic decline may bottoming out.
Flaherty expressed "cautious optimism that a global economic recovery may not be far behind" and said Canada will bounce back vigorously.
He also said all of the measures in Canada’s economic action plan to help Canadian households and businesses are "in place and fully operational."
But in the Commons, NDP leader Jack Layton said Flaherty had "misled" Canadians. "Contrary to what he said, the economic action plan is not in place, the money is not flowing" to municipalities that need it, Layton said.