There’s no question the economy will be the hottest hot button issue in the next federal election, so it’s unlikely Harper’s too pleased with a new OECD report that says Canada’s recovery is trailing the other G7 nations.
You’ll recall that the PM has said, on more than one occasion, that Canada would recover faster than any other developed nation. Well, the report, which came out today, claims that the country’s GDP will contract by 2% in Q3, and will only grow by 0.4% in Q4. That means we’re going to see slower short-term growth than the U.S, Japan, the “euro area”, Germany, France, Italy and the U.K. Oh wait, that’s everyone. (See all of their numbers on page 17 of the report.)
Now, as my fact-filled colleague Phil Froats points out, there’s plenty wrong with how the OECD’s numbers are being interpreted. But, that’s besides the point for the opposition, who will tout this survey as proof that Harper has no idea what he’s talking about.
As I’ve said before, Canada’s economic performance has very little to do with Harper — a stuffed bear could have been in office and the recession would still have come and gone — but when our top politician makes a statement regarding our GDP growth, he better make sure he’s right.
Despite what the OECD says (or what other people are saying about their findings), it’s still too early to know whether or not we’ll come out of this stronger and faster than our G7 cohorts, but, hopefully for Harper, good news will come before it’s too late.
3 Responses to “ Canada lags behind G7 nations: OECD ”
I think we need something more than a stuffed bear in a sweater. I’m waiting for a vision beyond free trade & globalism as the only solution, I think those times have past. We’ll have to see what the Iggy version is. It can only be something better that the current plan??
By Chris Evans on Sep 3, 2009
Chris Evans: I don’t think Iggy has a “version” or
more pertinently a vision … except personal glorification. He doesn’t know a balance sheet from a bed sheet and (should Canadians ever be dupes enough to elect him)will shovel out tax-payer dollars with one aim only: to appease
enough recipients to keep himself in power.
By Reg Garnett on Sep 4, 2009
There are what, 30 or 40 million of us and the globe has 6 billion. (oh sorry. I meant to make it clear. 6,000,000,000 – 40,000,000 = 5,960,000,000 or a lot of stakeholders on earth. I think we should ask the customer. Never mind Iggy and whats it…let us get to work.
By Brian Pomeroy on Sep 11, 2009