Government won't get 'blown off track' by job stats: PM
Numbers show Tory stimulus plan inadequate: Liberals
Last Updated: Friday, February 6, 2009 | 4:17 PM ET
CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, making an announcement about recreation funding in Miramichi, N.B., on Friday, said the government must "stick to the course" outlined in its massive economic stimulus plan. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)The federal government must "stick to the course" outlined in its massive economic stimulus plan despite the "bad news" of Canada shedding 129,000 jobs in January, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.
The prime minister made the comment in New Brunswick when asked about Statistics Canada's report on Friday, which said the country's unemployment rate shot up by 0.6 percentage points in January to 7.2 per cent. Almost all of the job losses were in full-time work.
The Opposition Liberals quickly targeted the Tories' job creation estimates included in the stimulus package in the wake of the Statistics Canada report, saying the Harper government is underestimating the impact of the crisis.
"We have got to be able to stick to the course," Harper said. "We cannot have in Parliament, quite frankly, instability every week and every month, every time there is a new number, people demanding a different plan."
"We're not going to get blown off track every time there is some bad news," the prime minister told an audience in Miramichi.
Harper acknowledged Friday's numbers are significant, but said the larger job loss figures emerging from south of the border showed that the United States "remains the epicentre of this particular crisis."
"The reason this government has proposed such a massive economic plan and such a massive deficit spending stimulus is our anticipation of significant economic challenges, including significant job losses in the year to come," he said.
"That is why we are doing what we are doing."
The "stick to the course" refrain was a feature of Harper's speeches during last fall's federal election campaign, in which he pledged a re-elected Conservative government would not bring the country back into deficits.
The Conservatives' budget tabled last month projects $64 billion in deficits over the next two years, followed by at least three more years of deficits as Canada struggles to boost Canada's flagging economy and emerge from a recession brought on by the global economic crisis.
Job estimates a 'failure': McCallum
During Friday's question period in the House of Commons, Liberal finance critic John McCallum said last month's job losses represented the "the largest monthly decline in recorded history" and showed Harper's Conservatives have been overselling what the stimulus package can do.
McCallum said the stimulus package job creation estimates are a "failure," considering the battered Canadian economy has lost 213,000 jobs since October.
"How can the minister explain to Canadians that the budget will save fewer jobs than the country has already lost in three short months?" McCallum told the House.
"Will this government admit that they not only did not see this coming, but they have absolutely no idea where they are going?"
New Democrat MP Libby Davies lambasted the government for failing to eliminate the two-week waiting period and increase accessibility of employment insurance.
"We don't need to wait to see if things get worse," Davies told the House. "They are worse right now."
'We have to get this budget bill through'
Speaking in Toronto on Friday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stressed the importance of passing the budget and getting the stimulus package out without delay.
"The key now though is we have to get this budget bill through. We have to get the money into the economy," Flaherty told reporters.
The finance minister said he's hopeful the opposition will accelerate the normal legislative process and fast-track the passage of the budget.
"I'm encouraged there's an understanding of the importance of moving this bill forward as quickly as possible," Flaherty said.
He reiterated that his government may be willing to do more in future, but won't know if it's necessary until the economic action plan is functioning.
The Liberals are calling for the immediate release of more federal economic stimulus funds on top of the $40 billion over two years pledged in the recently tabled federal budget.
While he said his party still did the right thing in voting for the Conservative budget because it contains many helpful measures, McCallum added "there's still time" to bring in additional stimulus before the summer break if necessary.
Several observers have said the numbers are based on assumptions that appear to be too optimistic. Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, for one, has cast doubt on the size and effectiveness of the minister's stimulus package.
According to Statistics Canada's figures released Friday, the manufacturing sector lost 101,000 jobs during January, the most on record for the industry.
The bulk of January's losses in manufacturing were concentrated in Ontario, which lost 36,000 positions; Quebec, which lost 30,000; and British Columbia, which shed 18,000 manufacturing positions.
With files from the Canadian Press
