Prime Minister Stephen Harper shot back Thursday at a report that cast doubt on Ottawa's stimulus spending, defending his government's "unprecedented" efforts to pull Canada out of a recession.
Government officials have repeatedly insisted the $47.2-billion spending splurge was necessary and directly responsible for Canada's economy emerging from recession in late 2009.
But on Tuesday, the Fraser Institute, which champions free-market economic solutions, concluded government spending and infrastructure investment accounted for just 0.2 percentage points of the 1.1 per cent growth between the second and third quarters of 2009.
The report further asserts that stimulus spending played no role at all in the one per cent improvement between the third and fourth quarter, saying an increase in net exports was the main reason for that growth.
"First of all, that’s completely wrong and quite frankly contradicted by very serious work that’s been done [elsewhere]" Harper told reporters. "Economic theory and history is clear, governments must … make sure [funds] are put to productive use in the economy to create jobs.
"That is what we have been doing, that has been successful [and] every reputable international study says so, by the way, not just for us."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/25/harper-fraser-stimulus.html?ref=rss
Oh dear! PM Harper has begun believing his own Economic Action Plan reports, rather than the (apparent) facts of the matter.
http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=2718813
Stumble It!