Vancouver Secrets

Stimulus – Hold Your Horses.

Two thirds of Canadians polled on Canadian Business’ site believe the economy is doing well enough that Stephen Harper should hold off on a stimulus spending package.

I agree – let the Americans throw a trillion or so at the problem – we’ll see our share from this.

The secondary benefit of not throwing billions around haphazardly is that we’ll have money to spend when it’s known what works.

It’s surprising that no one has pointed out that last year’s stimulus program, where the US sent cheques to taxpayers, actually helped.

The same cannot be said this time around.

Also worth reading from Hot Air:

Bailout Mania Moves North

Canada didn’t wait long to follow George Bush’s lead on bailing out the Big Three automakers and their operations in Canada.  PM Stephen Harper and Ontario premiere Dalton McGuinty combined forces to offer over $4 billion Canadian in loans and supports, including credit lines to consumers to get people buying cars again:

Canada will follow the United States by providing C$4 billion ($3.3 billion) in emergency loans to the Canadian arms of Detroit’s ailing automakers to keep them operating while they restructure their businesses, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Saturday.

The package, announced by Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, comes a day after the White House unveiled a $17.4 billion package to shore up Detroit’s auto industry.

Harper also announced two new federal measures to support the overall industry — one to benefit automotive suppliers and a second to help consumers get credit to buy cars. …

A collapse of the Detroit Three automakers would put nearly 600,000 Canadians out of work within five years, most of them in Ontario, according to a recent report by provincial advisory panel.

This comes as much less of a surprise than the moves in the US.  Despite the Conservative name, the Tories in Canada are closer to Democrats than Republicans in the US on economic policies.  Politics in Canada more closely resembles Europe than the US and the center is more leftward than here.

Tories closer to Democrats – OUCH.