A ‘poor choice’ for a prime minister

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Dear Editor,

This past month Mr. (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper and his minister of Finance have admitted that Canada is in a "technical recession."

Whatever the term "technical" might refer to, the term "recession" is applied when a country's economy fails to grow for two consecutive quarters. Given the fact that we are now in the fourth quarter of the year, the economic numbers must refer to the second and third quarters which ended in September.

Therefore Mr. Harper must have known, if not at the beginning of the election, then fairly early on, that Canada was in a recession, but despite that he continued to mislead Canadians on the state of the economy right up to election day.

Now, as the new prime minister, Mr. Harper continues to mislead.

At a recent international economic meeting, he noted the lessons learned from the Great Depression when governments deepened and prolonged the economic crisis by cutting back on government spending. Acknowledging that world leaders have learnt from these past mistakes, Mr. Harper told other world leaders that, like them, Canada would spend its way out of the crisis.

Once back in Canada, however, Mr. Harper and his minister of Finance are seen pursuing a government cost-cutting exercise that also allows them to accomplish some of their ideological driven agenda.

Further, they proclaim that they have already built in fiscal stimulus, and that Canada will actually have a small budget surplus!

How does any of this create jobs for Canadians, or protect pensions?

Jobs in the manufacturing sector, in construction and value-added jobs in the forestry sector are what are needed.

Small tax concessions, while admittingly putting more money into people's pockets, end up, however, being spent on the purchase of cheap, imported goods. This type of fiscal stimulus does not create jobs here in Canada.

Therefore Mr. Harper's propensity to mislead Canadians and personally attack anyone who does not agree with him makes him a poor choice for prime minister.

He is the leader of a party that gained 38 per cent of the popular vote, so perhaps given his track record, it is time for the parties, that 60 per cent of the electorate voted for, to now govern this country.

Sally McGrath,

Taymouth

Editor's note: Sally McGrath was the Tobique-Mactaquac Liberal candidate in the Oct. 14 federal election.