Tuesday, March 10, 2015

A Pathetic Failure



A lot of electronic ink has been spilled of late on the subject of Bill C-51. And the effort has been called for. But the irony of all that spent energy is that it is working in Stephen Harper's favour.

The prime minister used to burnish his credentials as an "economist." No more. He has good reasons to not talk about his economic expertise. Tom Walkom writes:

At a fundamental level, the economy is failing. Any number of studies point to this fact. The latest was released this week by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. It says the quality of work in Canada, as measured by wages and job security, has fallen to a 25-year low.
More and more people are trapped in low-paying jobs. More and more are contract workers deemed to be self-employed.
Wage growth for those who already earn good salaries is high. Wage growth for those who earn little is low.

The study says the reasons for this decline are so deeply embedded in the structure of the globalized economy that they will be difficult to reverse.

This picture, of Canadians doomed to live in a world of precarious work, is deeply depressing. It is also a picture that affects far more people than terrorism ever would. 

To date, two people have been killed in what the government insists were terrorist attacks. And, this past weekend, we suffered our first casualty in Iraq.  The death of Sgt. Doiron may change that conversation. But Mr. Harper desperately wants to keep the conversation from circling back to the economy.

As an economist, our prime minister is a pathetic failure. Soon, on the subject of foreign affairs, the same judgement may await him.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since when did the Kurd's become our allies? We our government and military sat around and watched them being slaughtered and did nothing. So now all of a sudden that Steve is no longer an Economist but a mighty warrior he expects respect for coming uninvited into a local war zone?

Don't you get it Steve? We used to be the envy of the world we were peace keepers and now because of you and your one-man dictatorship band we are hated. Thanks Steve for nothing get out please you peevish monster. I want my Canada back you should go and buy a resort in the Caribbean where you can exile yourself Steve.

Mogs

Owen Gray said...

All potential Napoleons should live in exile, Mogs.

Hugh said...

Seems to me that most stuff we purchase, clothes, furniture, tools, etc, is manufactured somewhere else.

We need to make more of our own stuff - this means more jobs here for one thing.

Manufacturing has been off-shored to countries using cheap labour, that's a big problem for us.

Owen Gray said...

Quite true, Hugh. Harper's whole economic strategy has been based on resource extraction. He has done nothing for Canada's manufacturing economy.

Anonymous said...

Rather than the Caribbean, St. Helena would be a more suitable site for Harper and his deceitful cabal.

Owen Gray said...

St. Helena would do nicely, Anon.

The Mound of Sound said...

We need revolutionary change, Owen. Replacing Harper with a somewhat less offensive substitute won't remedy our malaise. We need to think Syrzia and Podemos and, from them, find a new populism for Canada.

Owen Gray said...

The American economist Richard Wolfe believes that Syrzia offers hope for austerity battered countries, Mound.

But people need to become angry -- not apathetic -- if that's going to happen.