Feds must start working with provinces on economic challenges

As finance ministers gather today to address Canada’s urgent economic challenges, New Democrats call on the Conservatives to stop refusing to work with the provinces and end their downloading and cuts to transfers.

“Conservatives spent the fall preoccupied with pre-election giveaways to the wealthy few and have failed to address the real problems created by their downloading costs onto the provinces and their over-reliance on the oil sector,” said NDP finance critic Nathan Cullen. “Instead of working respectfully with the provinces on solutions, the finance minister spends his time lecturing others while failing to take responsibility for Conservative economic mismanagement.”

Provincial budgets have been under increasing strain due to:

• plummeting oil prices;
• the federal government downloading costs;
• the loss of 375,000 manufacturing jobs since 2006;
• ballooning household debt – now 162.6% of disposable income;
• meager employment growth; a 13% youth unemployment rate – with over 14,000 more full-time youth jobs lost last month alone and;
• EI now being accessibility to only 38% of unemployed Canadians.

“Conservatives' bizarre answer to job losses and growing income inequality was a $550 million hiring credit that would only create 800 jobs and a $2 billion income splitting scheme that only serves the wealthy few,” said Cullen.

“I urge Mr. Oliver to leave the ideology behind as he attends today’s finance ministers’ meeting and work with our provincial partners to correct the dangerous economic course that the Conservatives have set for Canada.”