Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper
Is this the new spin – mass government intervention fine by the Cons, is ‘comprehensive’ in fact? When your elected representative starts talking like that, look out. For an economy to survive an insult like the one it’s weathered recently, there is nothing that can be done but to pull over and recapitalize. Pointing it down a hill just to keep it moving isn’t purposeful motion, and it sells out your children’s future in favour of the present moment’s panic. There’s only so much room on Canada’s credit card, and cheap money is what got us in this fix in the first place. So Mr. Harper, here’s an economics question – should we be asking for a credit extension or paying off the card?
CBC News
January 9, 2009
The government may have to take “big comprehensive action” over the next three to five years to deal with the economic crisis, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday, adding that the next federal budget will be one of the biggest in a long time.
“We’re going to work on the assumption that this is going to be a tough time, that we should not underestimate the actions we need to take,” Harper said at a news conference in Montreal. “We’ll take big comprehensive actions.”
Without getting into specifics, Harper said the actions could last between three to five years.
“It won’t necessarily be that long, but we’re not going to underestimate the situation. We’re going to do whatever is necessary.”
Harper said the government has been involved in heavy consultations leading up to the tabling of the budget on Jan. 27.
“This will be one of the biggest budgets in a long time, it will be a comprehensive budget to deal with a range of economic – not just economic problems and challenges – but also some economic opportunities.”
Harper’s comments came as Statistics Canada reported Canadians lost 34,400 jobs in December, a figure that was worse than economists had been expecting, as the economy weakened.
While Harper said the numbers are “troubling” he said the job losses being incurred in the U.S. are a lot worse.
The U.S. economy shed 524,000 jobs in December, pushing overall job losses for 2008 to 2.6 million.
“Certainly the numbers in the United States, in particular, are very bad, continue to get worse,” the PM said.
3 budget tests: Ignatieff
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, speaking in Halifax, said he will judge the federal budget on whether it provides tax relief for low-income Canadians, infrastructure projects and invests in productivity and competitiveness.
Ignatieff, who spoke in Halifax as part of a town hall tour across the country, has said he’s prepared to vote down the Conservative government and form a governing coalition with the NDP if the budget isn’t in the best interests of Canadians.
On Thursday, Ignatieff had said he would consider speedy tax cuts for the poor, infrastructure projects and changes to the employment insurance program if he were prime minister.
Ignatieff’s town hall tour will also include stops in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
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January 27th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
January 29th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 4th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 11:20 am
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 11th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 11:19 am
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 20th, 2009 at 2:07 am
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
March 22nd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
March 26th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
March 26th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
[...] would be largest | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Canadians starting to save cash, shun debt | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | European [...]
April 26th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
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June 12th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
[...] | Stimulus needed now, Bank of Canada says | Premiers to press Harper for infrastructure boost | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Flaherty vows short-lived deficit, consults corporate chiefs on spending initiatives | Harper [...]
September 12th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
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January 14th, 2010 at 7:31 am
[...] deal on economic stimulus package | $12B for infrastructure forms key pillar of stimulus package | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Transport Minister Baird calls for dramatic action on stimulus package | Obama calls for [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
[...] stimulus or watch out, Obama warns | $12B for infrastructure forms key pillar of stimulus package | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Transport Minister Baird calls for dramatic action on stimulus package | Obama calls for [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 6:19 am
[...] stimulus or watch out, Obama warns | $12B for infrastructure forms key pillar of stimulus package | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Transport Minister Baird calls for dramatic action on stimulus package | Obama calls for [...]
February 26th, 2010 at 2:29 am
[...] stimulus or watch out, Obama warns | $12B for infrastructure forms key pillar of stimulus package | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Transport Minister Baird calls for dramatic action on stimulus package | Obama calls for [...]
July 1st, 2010 at 3:13 am
[...] deal on economic stimulus package | $12B for infrastructure forms key pillar of stimulus package | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Transport Minister Baird calls for dramatic action on stimulus package | Obama calls for [...]