Quebec leads Canadian economic rebound: Charest

[ErickMontreal]

Quebec leads Canadian economic rebound: Charest

 

 

By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceAugust 14, 2009

 

 

CHELSEA, Que. —Quebec Premier Jean Charest, said Friday the Quebec economy is in better shape than the rest of the country because its infrastructure spending is flowing while deficits are lower than other jurisdictions.

 

The Quebec economy is in better shape than the rest of the country because its infrastructure spending is flowing while deficits are lower than other jurisdictions, including the federal government, Premier Jean Charest said here Friday.

 

Charest made the comments standing next to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as they announced a new phase in a construction project extending a highway leading north from Ottawa through the Outaouais region in Quebec.

 

"It is true that Canada's economy has done better than the vast majority of countries in the world and within Canada, Quebec's economy has done better than the average economies in Canada," said Charest. "The size of our deficit is smaller than the size of the federal government's deficit or the deficit in Ontario."

 

Federal opposition parties have criticized the Harper government's infrastructure stimulus plan, arguing that money is not flowing out the door fast enough for projects to begin construction. Charest said that billions of dollars are already flowing into the Quebec economy from infrastructure and energy investments totalling more than $40 billion over the next five years.

 

"We had growth in 2008 and yes we'll have a slowdown, and yes we've lost jobs but overall, Quebec's economy has done better," said Charest. "Why? because we invested in infrastructure and energy and because we have a long-term vision."

 

He noted that even the Obama administration's $800-billion stimulus plan has not yet had an impact.

 

"Not a lot of money in the United States has yet reached the point where the investment is happening," said Charest. "In fact, very little of that money has gone out the door."

 

Harper said that there is still work to be done to ensure that Canada breaks out of the recession rapidly and moves into a strong position.

 

"Canada has not gotten out of this global recession," said Harper. "We must continue our efforts and persevere. Now is not the time for political instability. It is the time to continue to focus on our economy."

 

© Copyright © Canwest News Service

[GoMontreal]

Wow, that makes absolutely no sense! Also, if Québec is doing so well why did we have 38000 of the 45000 canadian job losses last month? That's 85%. 85% of all canadian job losses!!

[ericairlines]

jobs lost mainly 'part time jobs' in quebec...not very important...

[ericairlines]

De toutes les provinces (Canada)ou Etats (Usa)c'est le Québec (et oui ..)qui s'en sort le mieux en Amérique du Nord..qui l'eut cru?Le modèle économique québécois plus 'social' est en train de mieux amortir la crise..comme en Europe c'est pareil en France,Allemagne ou Belgique..comparés aux 'néolibéraux' du royaume Uni,de l'irlande et de l'espagne..qui sont en faillite virtuelle...et assis sur des montagnes de dettes pour plusieurs générations..c'est la faillite du 'tout privé'....il fallait que ça arrive..replacer des monopoles publics par des privés cela ne marche jamais (voir chemins de fer britanniques re nationalisés tellement le réseau privatisé devenait dangereux,trop cher et plus entretenu du tout...)

[Cataclaw]

But.. but.. socialisme!!!11111

[MTLskyline]

Canada, Germany, France and Belgium are all being led by centrist/right-leaning governments.

 

The UK, Ireland and Spain are being led by centrist/left leaning governments.

 

Quebec is only leading the way because it had the least to lose prior to the recession, we had no economic boom, and therefore no economic bust. We're used to economic stagnation here.

[Cataclaw]

Political orientation is automatically correlated to economic success? I don't think so!

[MTLskyline]

Political orientation is automatically correlated to economic success? I don't think so!

Correlated: Yes, definitely. Cause and effect: Almost but not quite.

 

The stats seem to speak for themselves. The USSR failed the USA did not. Communist China needed to adopt a sort of "capitalism lite" to get where they are now. Communist countries will never have economic success in the way a capitalist country can.

 

Under the stewardship of Prime Minister Harper, we are navigating our way out of the recession much quicker than most other countries. It looks as though the stimulus has very little to do with it. If we had the NDP or even the Liberals running things, we would still be in the middle of a much more prolonged recession.

[Cataclaw]

If we had the NDP or even the Liberals running things, we would still be in the middle of a much more prolonged recession.

 

You can't prove that.

 

Socialized healthcare runs better than the free-for-all system the Americans use and that's a fact. Seems to contradict the "right wing way is always better" idea you're suggesting.

[MTLskyline]

You can't prove that.

 

Socialized healthcare runs better than the free-for-all system the Americans use and that's a fact. Seems to contradict the "right wing way is always better" idea you're suggesting.

I don't know I think I'd prefer to pay a few thousand dollars and not have to wait a year to see a doctor.