Andrew Thomson, the NDP candidate for the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence who is running against Conservative candidate Joe Oliver, said Harper has presided over a “lost decade,” marked by job losses, less retirement security and higher household debt for average Canadians.
TORONTO – The Conservative Party’s political rivals went on the offensive this week after Statistics Canada revealed that the country fell into a recession during the first half of this year.
The NDP was the first party to react after Statistics Canada made their quarterly GDP report public, reported CBC news.
Andrew Thomson, the NDP candidate for the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence who is running against Conservative candidate Joe Oliver, said Harper has presided over a “lost decade,” marked by job losses, less retirement security and higher household debt for average Canadians.
“This is a problem of execution, and a problem of priorities,” he said during a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, where he was joined by NDP industry critic Peggy Nash.
“Canadians cannot afford Stephen Harper’s failed plan. Simply put, when you’re in a hole, you stop digging,” he said.
Thomson cited the NDP’s proposals to raise the corporate tax rate, implement a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage and roll back the age for retirement eligibility from 67 to 65 as some of the ways it would stimulate the economy.
Speaking later Tuesday during a campaign stop in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair echoed Thomson’s comments, saying Harper is the only prime minister of the modern era to be in office during two recessions.
Canada’s previous recession began in the final quarter of 2008 and lasted into the second quarter of 2009.
Mulcair also said a sputtering economy would not prevent an NDP government from fulfilling his promise of balancing its first budget.
“Mr. Harper’s problems this fiscal year will be just that, his problem.”
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said that regardless of any “technical definitions” of a recession, Tuesday’s economic news is “old hat” to Canadians who are already struggling.
“Stephen Harper’s economic plan has failed. And Tom Mulcair has adopted it at the worst possible time for Canadian families,” Trudeau said during a campaign stop in Gatineau, Que.
Trudeau is pitching $60 billion in new infrastructure spending over the next decade as a means of creating jobs and fostering economic growth.
