To the Editor:
Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty are dead wrong to take pot shots at the provincial economy in Ontario. Yes, that province is struggling through a rough patch right now, which is only worsened when the federal government tells investors to go elsewhere.
Such nasty hyper-partisanship serves no useful purpose.
The federal Conservatives should not see themselves as "critics" of the provincial Liberals. They are both duly elected governments and should be working for the common good.
Equally off-base is Thomas Mulcair's attack against natural resource developments in western Canada. He referred to them as some sort of "disease", doing harm to the manufacturing sector in eastern provinces.
Professional economists offer mixed opinions on whether thriving energy and mining activity has an indirect impact on the manufacturing sector, but that's beside the point. The real problem is Mr. Mulcair's tone and purpose.
His message sounded divisive, pitting region-against-region and sector-against-sector. He's trying to set up an economic confrontation with Stephen Harper, and he seems prepared to use provincial economies in the West as sacrificial pawns.
This is the sort of thing you inevitably get from sharply polarized politics.
Look at the toxic political environment in the United States. As their economy continues to stagger, there is no possibility of finding solutions that might earn broad-based support because their politics is all about "driving wedges" to push people apart, not pull them together.
Political polarization feeds off conflict. It is deeply divisive and corrosive. And it's a dangerous game to play in a complicated country like Canada where our national cohesion is always delicate and we need to handle our vast diversity with great care.
Surely what we want and need are successful resource and manufacturing sectors all across this country. Our economy must not become a zero-sum game where if I win, you must lose, and vice versa. We want sustainable growth and expanding prosperity that is broadly based and broadly shared.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
