Print

E-mail

Text

Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a stay-the-course economic platform at a downtown Toronto luncheon Tuesday, saying he refused to "panic" in the face of the ongoing financial meltdown in the United States.

The platform emphasizes the government's record of support for key industries, promises more investment in aerospace, defence and automotive industries and an end to tariffs on a range of machinery and equipment.

If it offers little that the Conservative Party hasn't already initiated or promised during the election campaign - well that, said Harper, is the point.

"Eighty per cent of it has already been released," Harper told reporters after he spoke to the Canadian Club of Canada. "But we decided early on that it's different being the government than it is opposition. With the government, people know the outlines of your platform and policy, and it's frankly not very credible for a government to change course. So we decided to delay the release of the whole platform and extend the individual as long as possible."

Harper also dealt with questions about his coolness in addressing the massive financial upheavals south of the border, which economists are indicating will have profound economic effects here. Once again, he indicated that the important thing for a head of government is to keep a cool head.

"I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most emotionally expressive guy," said Harper. "I understand in my own family people are shocked by the developments in the stock market. But, look, the main thing a government has to do at a time like this is not panic. A lot of people are panicking. I think there are a lot of great buying opportunities out there as a result of all this panic� Canadians must be reassured the government knows where it's going and that's what we're trying to communicate in this election."

Harper told his audience that the government has in fact laid the groundwork some time ago for weathering the economic storm.

"So when some wonder, in the wake of recent events, why we haven't thrown together a new plan - the reply, of course, is that the plan on which we have been acting is the plan," he said. "In fact, the very reason we call it a 'plan' is because action is planned before it is needed� As the saying goes, 'it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." Which is why, when the rain came, Noah didn't need to panic and he didn't switch boats."

The economic package unveiled by Harper will see the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative and Automotive Innovation Fund budgets increased by $200 million each over four years. The Conservatives will abolish tariffs on a wide range of imported machinery and equipment.

The plan also reiterates other promises for Canadian business, including cutting two cents a litre on the federal excise tax on diesel fuel, extension of maternity and paternity benefits to self-employed Canadians through Employment Insurance; an increase to $500,000 on the amount of income eligible to the reduced federal small business tax rate; and indexation of the lifetime capital gains exemption for farmers, fishermen and fisherwomen and small business owners.

Harper also emphasized what the plan wouldn't do - that being, implement plans from the Liberals to impose a carbon tax and the New Democratic Party to roll back promised corporate tax cuts.

"That is not a credible plan," Harper told the business audience at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. "It is a menu of all the wrong ideas at the worst possible time. I don't believe that's what Canada needs, and I don't believe that's what Canadians want. But if we do not win re-election, that is what the next Parliament will do. And if we do not win re-election, it will make Bob Rae's Ontario look like a boom town."

Former Ontario Premier and Toronto Centre Rosedale Liberal MP Bob Rae was on hand for the speech. He joked that he was "in deep shock" at Harper's words.

"You know, look. The Prime Minister is presiding over a recession. Everybody knows it except for him. He's living in a bizarre bubble," said Rae. "Everybody knows we're in for a seriously tough time. The question for Canadians really is, who do you want to have on your side during these changes? I think the Prime Minister's speech today seriously underestimates the seriousness of what we're facing as an economy. In fact, I saw no empathy there, I saw no understanding, no grasp of the seriousness of the situation as it relates to families, and Canadians are going to remember that."