HURTIG: Eight Ways the Harper Economy Is a Bust

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HURTIG: Eight Ways the Harper Economy Is a Bust

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/06/11/Ha ... Is-a-Bust/ ]

These reality check truths are bound to dog Tories on election trail. Fourth in a series.

By Mel Hurtig, June 13, 2015, TheTyee.ca

[Editor's note: This is the fourth of five excerpts this week from The Arrogant Autocrat: Stephen Harper's Takeover of Canada by noted Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig. For an interview with Hurtig about his just published book, click here
[ http://thetyee.ca/Culture/2015/06/08/Ar ... en-Harper/ ] .
To find the whole series, click here: [ http://thetyee.ca/Series/2015/06/08/Mel-Hurtig-Book/ ]

The Harper government makes many claims but the numbers don't lie: on a wide range of economic indicators, Canada's performance is declining. Below are a number of statistics and comparisons, many from the OECD Factbook 2014, that provide an overview of our economic status and the overall fiscal health of the country.

1. Lousy jobs record. As I noted in yesterday's piece focusing on Harper's jobs record, [ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/06/10/Jo ... en-Harper/ ] Canada's unemployment rate is higher than it was before the 2008–11 recession. At the end of 2014, the participation rate in Canada's labour market hit a 13-year low at 66 per cent, more than a percentage point below 2008 levels. Eleven ECD countries have a higher proportion of persons of working age in employment. Canada has one of the highest rates of part-time employment in the OECD. Nineteen OECD countries have lower rates of unemployment in a recent three year average.

2. From trade surplus to deficit. Whereas once Canada was among the world's leading exporters, we're now ranked 28th in exports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP. [ http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/ ... ok-2014-en ] Canada's share of world exports has been declining for more than a decade. In the eight years before the Harper government took office, Canada had a cumulative trade surplus with other countries of $410 billion. However, during Harper's first nine years in office, that trade surplus fell to a deficit of $56 billion.

The broadest measure we have of trade health is our current account balance. It is the sum of the balance of trade (exports minus imports of goods and services) and net investment income (such as interest and dividends). Today we have one of the highest current account deficits in the world.

3. Drooping GDP. For almost 30 years, Canada enjoyed an average annual GDP growth rate of 2.275 per cent, but in 2015 the latest OECD forecast says we'll be lucky to hit 1.5 per cent. In dollar terms, that drop represents a huge difference.
[ http://www.thespec.com/news-story/56598 ... ectations/ ]

In terms of GDP per capita, Canada ranks 12th amongst OECD countries. [ http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/ ... ok-2014-en ] All of the following countries have a higher GDP per person income than we do: Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, the U.S., Australia, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.

If we look at GDP per hours worked, Canada falls even further to 15th place in the OECD survey, outranked by Norway, Luxembourg, Ireland, the U.S., Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Australia, and well below the G7 average. [ http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/ ... ok-2014-en ]

4. Big, fat debt. According to the International Monetary Fund, government debt as a percentage of GDP in 2013 put Canada in 13th place amongst the 30 most advanced economies, worse than Austria, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Australia and many others.

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[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/06/11/Ha ... Is-a-Bust/ ]