Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s political rivals attacked him as out of touch with the seriousness of the nation’s economic slowdown on the same day the country’s stock market plunged, but the leadership debate may have been overshadowed by the US vice presidential debate across the border.
Canada’s top five political leaders scrimmaged in the country’s sole English-language debate on Thursday, as even the event’s moderator worried the highly anticipated US debate between Republican Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Democratic Senator Joe Biden would draw more interest.
“I’m trying to make sure Biden and Palin don’t take our audience here,” Steve Paikin said as he interrupted one exchange.
Harper was put on the defensive by his political rivals, who cornered him into saying he was wrong in supporting the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and accused him of being lax about the country’s economy, which they say is teetering from shock waves from the US credit crisis. The debate took place on a day Canada’s main stock exchange plunged almost 7 percent as investors dumped Canada’s commodity stocks.
Harper did not back down, defending his government’s record and accusing rival Liberal leader Stephane Dion of panicking in the face of an economic slowdown.
“We’re keeping the economy on course. We’re not going into a recession,” Harper said.
Dion shot back that Harper has no plan to deal with the Canadian economy and said he would convene a meeting with financial regulators, top economists and provincial leaders within 30 days of a Liberal election victory to assess the economy and chart a path forward.
“You have no idea what to do,” Dion said.
New Democratic Leader Jack Layton called on Harper to take some responsibility for the loss of manufacturing jobs in Canada.
Canada’s large auto sector in Ontario has seen many layoffs.
“The economy is not fine,” Layton told Harper. “Either you don’t care or you’re incompetent. Which is it?”
Harper acknowledged Canada’s economy was slowing, but argued that — unlike the US — the country has avoided a mortgage meltdown and a banking crisis. He has promised a steady hand on the economy and has accused his left-of-center opponents of wanting to raise taxes at an inopportune time.
When Harper called early elections he said Canada’s economy could weather the US downturn and said if a recession were to occur, it would have happened already.
Under fire at the debate for his support of the US-led Iraq invasion when he was the country’s opposition leader, Harper conceded to critics for the first time that he was wrong. Canada’s Liberal government opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq and turned down Washington’s request to send troops.
“It was absolutely an error, it’s obviously clear,” Harper said after first dodging the question. “The evaluation of weapons of mass destruction proved not to be correct. That’s absolutely true. That’s why we’re not sending anybody to Iraq.”
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