When it comes to managing the Canadian economy, Tom Walkom writes, the Harper government’s prime directive is do nothing and let the American economy drag us along. The strategy is nothing new: It is, in fact, a classic Canadian strategy. The Liberal government of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin used
Continue readingTag: Conservative Economic Policy
Northern Reflections: Insanity Drives The Bus
Stephen Harper insists he is all about strengthening the economy. Not so, writes Tom Walkom. He is abandoning it: The reasons are political. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his finance minister, Jim Flaherty, now have only one goal in mind — the 2015 federal election. And they are determined to
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Inequality For All Canadians
As the Robert Reich film, Inequality for All, hits theatres this weekend, Jordan Brennan and Jim Stanford write that what has happened in the United States has also happened in Canada: Now Statistics Canada has turned its attention to the problem, too. The agency’s National Household Survey has documented the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Harper’s Achilles Heel
I wrote yesterday that, when it comes to the economy, Stephen Harper takes his cue from the 19th century. And that perspective, Lawrence Martin writes, should make the economy Mr. Harper’s Achilles heel. Ralph Goodale certainly thinks so: A more partisan view came this week from Ralph Goodale, Paul Martin’s
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The New Charge Of The Light Brigade
For the last decade, Stephen Harper has been pitching the idea that he and his party — which has changed its name three times — have given this country economic stability. But, despite the re-branding, Tim Harper wrote this week that the numbers tell a different story: In Harper’s Canada,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s Still The Economy, Stupid
Justin Trudeau has been talking about pot. Tom Mulcair has been talking about abolishing the Senate. But, Paul Wells writes in Macleans, that talk will not generate votes in the next election. The focus will still be on the economy. The Liberals may think they can remind voters of the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Lousy Economists
As a response to the Great Depression, western governments put in place several “economic shock absorbers” — unemployment insurance, welfare and baby bonus cheques — to cushion the negative effects of an economic downturn. But neo-conservatives, convinced that the shock absorbers encouraged people to become fat and lazy, systematically destroyed
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