Look out Canada – The Deficit is on the way
by investor on 17/11/08 at 1:57 pm
World leaders moved this weekend to find ways to prevent a global economic calamity and, in the process, gave Stephen Harper a hand in dealing with a campaign promise he may soon have to break.
The Prime Minister emerged from the unprecedented meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging economies with a freer hand to backtrack on his firm pledge during the election to not run a deficit, observers say.
That’s because the declaration of the G20 – among many prescriptions agreed to Saturday – announced a commitment by its members to stimulate their economies. That agreement is already being used by the Prime Minister as a shield to pre-empt the attacks of political opponents ready to pounce should Canada be plunged into the red.
“He’s got himself a G20 umbrella to protect himself with,” said Peter Woolstencroft, a University of Waterloo political scientist and an expert on the Conservative Party. “When he’s attacked or questioned, then that’s his rationale. He can look at his opponents and say, ‘Well, what’s your better idea?’”
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