To the Editor:
Stephen Harper's media manipulators were peddling the notion that the federal budget will come early this year - likely around February 11 or 13 - because, according to them, there really isn't much to do on the economic front.
This political spin is consistent with New Year's commentaries offered by both Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. They conveyed a sense of smug complacency with only one priority - further slashing the Government of Canada. In their view, that's the only thing that matters. More cuts to everything will bring instant prosperity.
Mr. Flaherty is so bored with what's on his plate that he's taken to meddling in the monetary responsibilities of the Bank of Canada.
Statistics Canada announced the latest employment figures for December and for 2013 as a whole - the worst since the 2008 recession!
Full-time employment dropped by 60,000 in December. Offset a bit by a few new part-time jobs, the net loss for the month was a stunning 46,000 - especially in the private sector. Canada's unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 per cent.
Digging deeper into the statistics, a couple of other points are even more troubling. Before the recession, about 1.113-million Canadians were unemployed and actively looking for work. In December, the comparable number was 1.383-million. So there are 270,000 more jobless Canadians today than before the recession.
But that's not all. Canada's labour force "participation rate" has also dropped. It's down by more than a full percentage point compared to just before the recession. That means more people who could and should be engaged in Canada's job market (either working or actively looking for work) have dropped out. How many more? An additional 350,000 at least - another indication of growing pessimism.
On an annual basis, a meagre 102,000 jobs were created in all of Canada in all of 2013 - reflecting the mediocre economic growth rates posted year-after-year by the Harper government. Mr. Harper continues to have the worst record on growth of any Prime Minister since R.B. Bennett.
The lingering slack in the economy is not likely to be remedied by an upturn in domestic consumer demand, not when the typical household is already carrying $1.64 in debt for every $1.00 in disposable income.
It's not likely to be remedied by greater export sales. Canada continues to run a large trade deficit (importing more than we export), and that deficit just got worse again by nearly a billion dollars toward the end of last year.
Canada's economic slack is not likely to be remedied by new business investment. The corporate sector continues to sit on idle retained earnings, not having sufficient confidence to invest in new technology or the up-skilling of its workforce or other measures to promote productivity and competitiveness.
And the Harper government's response to all this is passive do-nothingness. They even make matters worse by raking-in $3.6-billion in higher and higher Employment Insurance payroll taxes since 2011, and now by freezing EI rates at clearly excessive levels - making job creation more difficult. At the same time, they have choked federal investment in public infrastructure projects by slashing the "Build Canada" fund by $1.5-billion this year and next, and by another one billion in the year after that.
This is what flows from a government that's obsessed by ideology, impervious to factual evidence and incapable of any vision beyond grinding mediocrity.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
