Show us the platform, party leaders urge Harper on economy

Accuse Conservatives of not having a plan to deal with effects of U.S. crisis

Last Updated: Friday, October 3, 2008 | 12:29 AM ET

CBC News

Stephen Harper brushed aside repeated criticism during Thursday’s English-language debate from the four other federal party leaders that he’s failed to come out with an economic plan.

Throughout the two-hour session at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, the Conservative leader was quizzed on how he proposes to address Canada’s financial situation in light of the U.S. crisis.

At Harper’s request, the amount of time devoted to the economy was increased to 30 minutes in both the English debate and Wednesday’s French-language session.

Green Leader Elizabeth May questioned why Harper requested that the broadcasting consortium staging the debates set aside a lengthier time to discuss the economy but then failed to make use of the time to explain his economic plan.

“Both nights, I waited to hear what you thought you should do about the situation and wondered why you wanted the time because you offered nothing up, and tonight, you spent your time attacking the policies of others,” she said.

She said Harper’s party is the only one that has yet to outline an economic plan.

NDP Leader Jack Layton agreed. “Where’s the platform, under the sweater?” he asked Harper, making fun of the Conservative leader’s new wardrobe of sweaters aimed at softening his image and highlighted in the party’s ad campaigns.

‘Stéphane, you panicked,’ Harper says

Instead of responding to the accusations, Harper took aim at Stéphane Dion, accusing the Liberal leader of panicking under pressure by unveiling an economic plan during the previous night’s debate.

“Last night, Stéphane, you panicked and announced an economic plan in the middle of a debate, and I know why you did that,” the Conservative leader said.

“Look at your platform. It says you will spend billions of dollars,” he added, referring to the Green Shift, which he says will raise taxes, kill jobs and drive up prices.

Dion shot back that Harper was distorting the Liberal plan.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” he said.

“What we have proposed yesterday has nothing to do with doing nothing. It is to act right now.”

Near the start of Wednesday’s French-language debate, Dion promised that within 30 days of forming a government, the Liberals would consult financial regulators, private-sector economists and provincial and territorial premiers before implementing fiscal measures to stimulate the economy.

‘The economy is not fine’: Layton

Layton and the Bloc Québécois’s Gilles Duceppe also targeted Harper for his stance that the government must stay its course on the economy and that Canada’s fiscal fundamentals are strong.

“The economy is not fine,” Layton said to Harper. “Either you don’t care or you are incompetent. Which is it?”

Harper responded by saying he knew about the financial crisis in August 2007 and began acting last fall on a $200-billion tax reduction package to help consumers, businesses and families.

After the first 30 minutes on the economy, the leaders moved on to discuss environmental policies, crime, arts and culture funding cuts, the Afghanistan mission and the doctor shortage.

Sparring over the environment

Harper reiterated his charge that the Liberal’s Green Shift would increase taxpayers’ burden. He said Dion should be “honest with the people” that some environmental measures will cost the economy and said the plan includes $40 billion in carbon taxes and $26 billion in tax cuts.

“It’s not true at all,” said Dion. “For every dollar that we will raise, you will have a tax cut, and these tax cuts will be on your income.”

Duceppe weighed in with his request that any targets be applied to individual provinces, thereby allowing Quebec to financially benefit due to already-implemented greenhouse gas reductions.

Layton, who proposes a cap-and-trade system, said it’s a “figment of Mr. Harper’s imagination” that emissions will fall under his plan.

Harper sought to outline his government’s record on other environmental fronts, saying his minority government supported the preservation of hundreds of thousands of hectares of environmentally sensitive land through the Nature Conservancy of Canada. He also said the government helped build a marine park in Lake Superior and a whale sanctuary on Baffin Island.

“The only word he said that’s true is on national parks,” retorted May.

Duceppe pounds Tories for funding cuts

Duceppe, keen to keep the Tories from gaining ground in seat-rich Quebec, painted the Conservative government’s $45 million in national arts and culture funding cuts as an assault on the province’s identity.

“How can you recognize the Quebec nation and then cut culture [funding], which is the soul of a nation?” he asked before citing the economic benefits of culture.

Thursday’s contest coincided with the much-anticipated showdown south of the border between U.S. vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, and Democratic Senator Joe Biden.

“And you know what, this was way better than Biden and Palin,” leaders’ debate moderator TVOntario’s Steve Paikin concluded the show with.