Conservatives Fail on Economic Front

“Tories pledge protection for embattled oil sands - Coalition Threat”
The headline above appeared on Saturday, December 06, 2008 in the National Post. This commitment comes on the heels of the announcement last week, that the Canadian economy had lost 71,000 jobs in November. The bulk of the losses, 90% were incurred in Ontario. Of these, 38,000 were in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing job losses since 2002 have totalled 388,000, according to Statistics Canada . If there ever was an industry in need of attention during these tough economic times it is manufacturing. In the same report, Alberta got off fairly lightly with losses of 3,700 jobs. Yet, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, has chosen to highlight the threat of damage to the Alberta Oil Sands industry should the Coalition gain power. This is the sort of direction from the Federal Government will only serve to accentuate the regional differences opened by Stephen Harper last week. It also highlights the need for Parliament to be in the House and dealing with the pressing issues that are laying waste to the economy of the country. Clearly, Harper's Conservatives are fixated on the need to hang onto power with their divide and conquer methods, and will not deal with the issues of ordinary Canadians even though our economy is headed for the ditch.