While the Stephen Harper Conservative government has staked its claim on the economy, the reality is poor job prospects for young people, record personal debts and stagnant incomes, a veteran Liberal and former finance minister said Friday.
Ralph Goodale, a finance minister in the Paul Martin government, spoke in Kamloops at a public event at Thompson Rivers University, as well as at a party fund-raiser for local candidate Steve Powrie.
Goodale focused on the economy in his TRU lecture, joking to his audience of about 35 “once you’ve been minister of finance you can never let it go.”
Goodale said the realities of the national economy are largely a result of one factor: sluggish overall growth.
Canada’s economy is in negative growth territory this year, largely as a result of the oil price shock. But, Goodale said, economic growth under the Conservative government has been historically poor.
“Altogether, since he came to power in 2006, Mr. Harper produced the worst economic growth of any prime minister since R.B. Bennett in the 1930s,” Goodale said.
What about the Great Recession that Harper inherited?
“That lasted nine months and ended six years ago,” Goodale said. “Still Canada is languishing.”
Poor paying jobs for young people and record personal debts are two symptoms, he said.
Goodale, who is travelling the Interior to boost the fortunes of local candidates, highlighted a Liberal plan to ramp up public spending on infrastructure during a time of historically low interest rates.
He said the Liberals would also boost transfers to low- and middle-class families and axe a confusing jumble of Conservative amounts.
With four months until the next federal election, Goodale said Canadians are in a mood for change and asserted the economy is the No. 1 issue.
“The voting public is more volatile, more open and likely to change than ever before in Canadian history,” he said.
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