Another minority Parliament would be disastrous for the Canadian economy, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper warned Friday as his rivals accused him of ignoring the North American financial crisis.
Mr. Harper likened a dysfunctional minority in the House of Commons to the U.S. House of Representatives, which sent stock markets into a tailspin last month after they rejected a $700-billion bailout plan for the financial industry. The House passed an amended plan on Friday.
“You only got one vote — vote for the party you think can actually run the economy,” Mr. Harper said during a campaign event in Saint John, N.B.
“But don't go out and vote just to have an opposition. Because I think if people start voting just for an opposition, we have the risk you have in the United States.”
The economy cemented itself as the dominant election issue on Friday, with Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion delivering a major economic address to the Chamber of Commerce in Montreal, and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe speaking to a business audience in Toronto.
Mr. Dion acknowledged Friday his 30-day plan to boost the economy – revealed for the first time in Wednesday night's leaders' debate – will be funded by money already budgeted by the Conservative government.
The Liberal leader's explanation to reporters followed a speech to a Montreal business crowd arguing his plan is the best way to address a looming economic crisis.
Mr. Dion later said Conservative Transport minister Lawrence Cannon is sitting on budgeted money for infrastructure projects, yet few specific projects have been announced.
“There's a lot of money in the pipeline able to go right away to create jobs and to create the infrastructure that we need,” Mr. Dion told reporters when asked how he would pay for his plan.
He also noted that NDP Leader Jack Layton said in the English debates that his first act as Prime Minister would be to reverse $50-billion in planned corporate tax cuts.
“Jack Layton's plan is a job killer,” Mr. Dion said.
Mr. Layton, meanwhile, was also eager to pounce on what he believes is a chink in the so-far solid Conservative armour — Mr. Harper's belief that the economy remains fundamentally sound.
“Well guess what, things aren't fine,” he said Friday morning while campaigning in Montreal.
“The financial crisis has become an economic crisis and here in Quebec and in central Canada we're seeing that. Some 400,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing and forestry sectors.
“It seems to me that last night Mr. Harper really showed he doesn't understand the impact of losing one's job.”
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe urged voters all over Canada to shun the Conservatives on Oct. 14.
Mr. Duceppe told the Economic Club of Toronto the country cannot afford to elect a majority Conservative government.
Stephen Harper's party has done nothing to protect the Canadian economy in the wake of plunging markets, he said, and the Tory leader's vision is “alien” to Quebec and that he suspects it is the same in the rest of Canada.
With 12 days left in the campaign, the economy has become the overriding ballot question of the election as the news from Wall Street, Bay Street — and increasingly Main Street — darkens.
The Toronto Stock Market plunged more than 800 points Thursday for the second time this week, wiping out billions of dollars in the wealth of Canadians. Meanwhile, the U.S. reported Friday that its economy shed 159,000 jobs in September, a clearest signal that America has stumbled into a recession.
Most economists believe Canada cannot avoid following the U.S. into a recession that starts costing Canadians jobs if the U.S. slump proves deep and protracted.
And Friday saw evidence that the global credit crunch is starting to seriously effect Canada's financial system as well, with the Bank of Canada announcing it needs to inject another $12-billion in cash to ensure Canada's chartered banks have sufficient capital to make loans.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Friday morning that the “tragic” consequences of Americans losing their homes in the U.S. housing market meltdown will not befall Canadian homeowners.
Speaking to students at the University of Western Ontario in London, Mr. Flaherty said Canadians can afford the mortgages they have, adding that the housing market is stable here. He also said the country did not go through the massive bubble the U.S. market did.
While Flaherty says Canada's fundamentals are sound he also admits the country's economy is not “an island.” A slowdown in consumer spending south of the border has hit the Canadian auto sector, and southern Ontario's manufacturing sector, especially hard, he said.
Thursday night, Mr. Harper defended his government's handling of the economy and accused Mr. Dion of “panicking” by proposing a 30-day action plan that would come into effect as soon as he takes office.
Canada is not the U.S., Mr. Harper said, adding that Canadians are not in danger of losing their homes or their jobs.
Mr. Dion shot back that Mr. Harper's do-nothing attitude is endangering Canadian prosperity, a theme taken up as well by the NDP's Layton and Green Leader Elizabeth May.
“Either you don't care, or you're incompetent,” Mr. Layton said.
Tory support appears to be holding with the finish line in sight, but the unpredictable and fast-changing events on the economic front has thrown a wild card into the campaign that has given the opposition parties the first real glimmer.
Mr. Harper, after a subdued performance in the French debate Wednesday night, took a slightly more aggressive approach in English on Thursday.
His barbs were aimed mainly at Mr. Dion.
The Bloc's Mr. Duceppe sparked the biggest surprise of the night, pressing Mr. Harper until the Conservative leader conceded he was wrong to advocate invasion of Iraq as Opposition leader in 2003.
Mr. Harper took his campaign to New Brunswick on Friday.
