IMF head Lagarde warns governments in Europe and US to ‘not relax’

By The Associated Press - Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 6:24 PM - 0 Comments

DAVOS, Switzerland – The crisis mood is gone, but that doesn’t mean you can slip back into your old ways — that’s the message from top international finance officials wrapping up the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

They warned governments Saturday against letting their relief over an improved economic climate turn into complacency over reforms many want to see in order to sustain a still-uncertain recovery.

“Do not relax,” International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde urged at a closing panel on the economic outlook.

She said the IMF outlook for a “fragile and timid” recovery depended on officials in the powerhouse economies of Europe, the U.S. and Japan making “the right decisions.”

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Mark Carney in Davos: what’s up next for the global economy

By Erica Alini - Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 4:03 PM - 0 Comments

(Photo courtesy of: World Economic Forum)

The job of fixing financial markets is by no means over, and what does or does not happen over the next two years will be crucial, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said at the World Economic Forum annual gathering of the world’s financial elite in Davos, Switzerland.

Here’s a quick summary of the governor’s remarks:

• The global economy isn’t completely out of the woods yet

Bailouts and tighter banking rules haven’t eliminated the “tail risks” to the global economy and the stability of financial markets. The next bit of financial reform will have to increase oversight of the shadow banking sector (that is, institutions that in some ways operate like banks but have so far escaped stricter rules) and over-the-counter-derivatives, which are privately negotiated and have remained unregulated. These have contributed to exacerbating the crisis in 2008, and might do so again if left unchecked, the governor argued. The remarks were interpreted as a warning that the Financial Stability Board, an international financial regulator which Carney currently heads, will be soon tackling these issues.

• Central banks can’t do it all

Central banks, which have aggressively sought to stimulate growth in many advanced economies by keeping interest rates at rock-bottom and pumping money into the economy, can’t restore lasting global growth on their own.“There is not an ability of central banks to take all this risk out or set the seeds for a sustainable recovery,” Carney said. Sensible fiscal policy and structural reforms to eliminate the remaining vulnerabilities that permitted the 2008 crisis are essential parts of the cure, the governor noted.

• But monetary policy hasn’t run out of options

Still, Carney rejected suggestions by co-panelist Angel Gurria, head of the OECD group of rich countries, that central banks have run out of tools to prop-up fledgeling economic recoveries around the developed world. Monetary policy options haven’t been “maxed out,” the BoC chief argued.

The remark also ran counter the position of Sir Mervyn King, current governor of the Bank of England, which Carney will start heading in July. Speaking to reporters this week, King said he believed the bank had run out of means to boost Britain’s economic growth. Carney refused to elaborate on whether the remaining policy options he alluded to include NGDP targeting, a controversial measure the governor praised in a December speech and that has made him the target of some criticism in Britain. (Stephen Gordon explains what NGDP targeting is here.)

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Algeria admits ‘mistakes’ in hostage standoff, needs international help

By The Associated Press - Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 7:49 AM - 0 Comments

DAVOS, Switzerland – Algeria’s foreign minister acknowledged that security forces made mistakes in a hostage crisis at a Saharan gas plant in which many foreign workers were killed by Algerian military strikes.

Mourad Medelci, in an Associated Press interview, also conceded that Algeria will need international help to better fight terrorism. Algeria’s decision to refuse foreign offers of aid in handling the crisis, and to send the military to fire on vehicles full of hostages, drew widespread international criticism.

The Jan. 16 attack, which an al-Qaida-affiliated organization has claimed responsibility for, sent scores of foreign energy workers fleeing across the desert for their lives. A four-day siege by Algerian forces on the complex left at least 37 hostages and 29 militants dead. Some of the fatalities were badly burned, making it difficult to identify them.

“We are in the process of assessing our mistakes. In that assessment we are leaning more towards establishing that the operation was a success,” Medelci told the AP at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.

He said Algeria is likely to reinforce security measures at sites where multinationals operate in the oil- and gas-rich country. But he insisted that foreign workers in Algeria “will continue to work in Algeria and that is the best way to answer the terrorists.”

He defended the government’s decision to attack instead of negotiating. “Faced with such an attitude (of terrorism), it’s not just words that solve the problem. It’s action,” he said.

But he admitted that Algeria, which faced years of internal extremist violence, “can’t continue to face international terrorism alone. It absolutely needs support.”

He argued that Algeria wasn’t the target of the attack, but “they are targeting investors in Algeria and the foreigners who work there.”

___

AP correspondent Angela Charlton contributed from Davos.

How Sheryl Sandberg rescued gender equality in Davos

By Erica Alini - Friday, January 25, 2013 at 10:44 PM - 0 Comments

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO at the 2013 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. (Photo: World Economic Forum)

One of the main themes at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting this year is gender equality—and the big talk about that happened today.

Walking into the room this morning, you’d have been entirely justified in keeping your expectations low. For starters, panel discussions are notoriously not what’s interesting about this peculiar gathering of nerds and CEOs in the Alpine setting of Davos, Switzerland. The action, as every reporter and most participants know, is in everything that happens on the sidelines: the ideas being thrown around in the hallways, the amazing anecdotes told over lunch, the people you might bump into at the cafeteria.

The odds were especially bad for this panel on “Women in Economic Decision-Making.” The fact that only 17 per cent of Davos attendees this year are women made it look exceedingly irrelevant.

For the first thirty minutes or so, your instincts would have been proven entirely correct.

That is not to say there weren’t good things about the first half-hour. Moderator Herminia Ibarra, a business professor at INSEAD, France, had some striking statistics: women make up 60 per cent of university graduates in Europe, but then, in the Old Continent as well as the U.S., only four to five per cent of them become CEOs. Also, only 14-16 per cent of corporate board members in developed countries are female.

C-suite headhunter Kevin Kelly, the only man on the panel, pointed out that of the 5500-some board seats at Fortune 500 companies only about 300 turn over every year, of which roughly 20 per cent go to women. Even if one were to mandate that 50 per cent of those seats go to female candidates, the gender composition of corporate boards would change at a glacial pace… (Kudos to him for coming up with something original and relevant to say about women quotas—it ain’t easy.)

And then there was Sheryl Sandberg.

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ECB head Draghi says calmer market mood hasn’t yet reached eurozone economy

By The Associated Press - Friday, January 25, 2013 at 5:51 AM - 0 Comments

DAVOS, Switzerland – The President of the European Central Bank admits the renewed calm in the euro area’s financial markets has yet to be reflected in the wider European economy.

Mario Draghi said Friday at the World Economic Forum that markets for stocks, bonds and bank credit have “a new, restored sense of tranquility.”

But he added that “we don’t see this being transmitted into the real economy yet.”

Draghi said governments need to move on structural reforms to make their economies grow faster, which will help reduce government debt.

He said that once that’s achieved, the stimulus from the ECB’s low interest rates and easy credit to banks “should find its way through to the economy and we will see a recovery in the second half of the year.”

Davos activists occupy Shell station to protest Arctic drilling

By The Associated Press - Friday, January 25, 2013 at 5:29 AM - 0 Comments

DAVOS, Switzerland – Activists with a big fake polar bear have occupied a Shell service station in the Swiss resort of Davos to protest Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s oil drilling in the Arctic.

About 25 activists from around Europe chained gas pumps together Friday at the station near where the World Economic Forum was being held and hung a banner on the roof reading “Arctic Oil – Too Risky.”

Greenpeace helped stage the protest, raising concerns about dangers to the environment from Shell’s drilling in Alaska and urging forum organizers to reconsider Shell’s participation. A Shell drill barge ran aground on a remote Alaska island on New Year’s Eve.

Shell officials, among the 2,500 corporate and political leaders in Davos this week, did not immediately respond to phone calls about the protest.

Dr. Doom: why bondholders are partly to blame for America’s fiscal mess

By Erica Alini - Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 4:13 PM - 0 Comments

(Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

Expect the U.S. to continue kicking the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and similar artificial deadlines down the road for a while longer, economist Nouriel Roubini told CNN in Davos, Switzerland.

READ: The debt ceiling: what just happened and what’s up next

At this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Roubini, a.k.a Dr. Doom, was his customary gloomy self.

America is in for another twelve months of “anemic, subpar growth,” which he pegged at 1.6 per cent, and  a “very high” unemployment rate. This despite a rebounding housing market, a helpful boost from the energy sector (think: shale oil and gas), manufacturing employment looking half-decent and the Federal Reserve continuing to pump money into the economy.

Most of the blame for dragging down what could be a healthy pace of growth, Roubini said, goes to the usual suspects: Washington lawmakers. Their stop-and-go tax hikes and spending cuts will likely be enough to shave 1.4 per cent off GDP growth in 2013, but not enough to address the U.S.’s long-term debt woes.

But financial markets are also to blame for America’s paralysis, Dr. Doom continued. “The bond vigilantes are asleep at the wheel,” he said, hinting at the rock-bottom interest rates at which the U.S. has been able to borrow despite its gargantuan debt and seeming incapacity to do anything about it.

Investors’ concerns over countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal have forced hard political choices in Europe, he noted. Alas, that blessing in disguise has so far eluded Washington.

Read more of our Davos coverage.

Your Davos one-stop shop

By Erica Alini - Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 12:55 PM - 0 Comments

(Monika Flueckiger/swiss-image.ch. Copyright by World Economic Forum)

The world’s rich and powerful, plus a fair number of big thinkers—the latter not so powerful and certainly not as rich—are partying it up and talking about fixing the global economy in the Davos, among the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland.

Here’s the latest on the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting from the Maclean’s team:

Your guide to Davos
Who’s who and what’s what at WEF 2013

David Cameron, party pooper
The PM’s remarks quickly took over the conversation—and the Twitter feed

Dr. Doom: why bondholders are partly to blame for America’s fiscal mess
Economist Nouriel Roubini on why spooked investors are what Washington politicos need

How Sheryl Sandberg rescued gender equality in Davos
With women making up only 17 per cent of delegates at the World Economic Forum, talk of gender equality seemed doomed. Until the Facebook COO took the stage.

Mark Carney in Davos: what’s up next for the global economy
All you need to know about what the governor said in four bullet-points.

Also, from the archives, here’s Paul Wells on PM Harper’s landmark Davos speech last year:

Harper reaches the age of major-ity

And here’s what chit-chat looks like when world leaders, business giants and big thinkers mingle:

David Cameron, party pooper

By Erica Alini - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 1:31 PM - 0 Comments

(Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

There, he finally did it. British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered his much-anticipated and several times delayed Europe speech today, promising an “in-out” referendum over whether Britain should stay in the EU by 2017.

Predictably, other European leaders were not impressed.

Speaking at Davos, where the 43rd edition of the World Economic Forum is in full swing, outgoing Italian PM Mario Monti tried to sound a positive note, saying he is “confident” British people will vote to remain in the Union. But, sharp jab at British Eurosceptics, he also said the EU needs “willing Europeans.”

Needless to say, the news from across the English Channel spoiled the mood at the WEF:

Davos 2013: Ideas, gossips and photos from the floor

By Erica Alini - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 12:54 PM - 0 Comments

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is well underway in its Alpine setting in Davos, Switzerland.

Here’s the chatter from the floor:

Updated: Big bankers at Davos defend selves against critics

By The Associated Press - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 6:00 AM - 0 Comments

DAVOS, Switzerland – Leading world bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, are on the defensive amid demands to regulate their industry more closely following a financial crisis that has battered large chunks of the global economy.

Bankers have been widely blamed for the financial crisis that has dramatically reduced the living standards of many in the developed world, whether they’re in work or not. A United Nations body said Tuesday that the number of unemployed around the world will rise to a record 202 million this year with many countries, particularly in Europe, struggling to post any growth at all.

“We’re doing the right thing,” Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., said Wednesday.

Continue…

Your guide to Davos

By Erica Alini - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 6:36 PM - 0 Comments

(Michel Euler/AP)

The 43rd edition of that Alpine see-and-be-seen wonk party that is the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting kicked off today. From now until Saturday, the global financial elite—over 2,500 attendees who made the WEF’s invitation-only list—will be schmoozing and talking about that grand-sounding fiction called “the global agenda.” Davos is where world leaders, top businessmen and big thinkers exchange business cards, chat over coffee and mull new ideas as they munch hors d’oeuvres.

So who’s who and what’s what at this year’s WEF meeting? Here’s a quick guide to the event. Follow us over the next few days for more coverage:

Canada:

Canada’s appearance at Davos this year will be no doubt different than the last. Twelve months ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper used the WEF stage to deliver a bold speech promising “major transformations” for the country, what Maclean’s Paul Wells dubbed a “Throne Speech.” It foreshadowed changes to Old Age Security (without explicitly saying s0); promised we’d focus on exporting energy to Asia; and bragged about Canada’s standing among G7 economies, the solidity of our banks, and the unmatched speed of our jobs recovery.

This year, things will be more subdued. The Canadian economy, though still faring well, has lost some of its shine. The Prime Minister, for his part, is not attending, sending instead Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, International Trade Minister Ed Fast and Industry Canada’s Christian Paradis. Bank of Canada chief (for now) Mark Carney is the only top policymaker in attendance, and a panel speaker on Saturday. Alberta’s Alison Redford and Quebec’s Pauline Marois are also reportedly going, along with a large contingent of top dogs from the world of business, including RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins.

Attendees:

Other major attendees include Germany’s Angela Merkel, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (read: Putin) and outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. The one to watch, though, is British PM David Cameron who is expected to deliver a major anti-E.U. speech tomorrow and will be a keynote speaker in Davos later in the week.

From the world of so-called global governance there will be IMF chief Christine Lagarde, the World Bank’s Jim Yong Kim and the World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy. European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi, of course, is there as well.

Big shots from the private sector include JPMorgan CEO James Dimon, technology queen bees Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) and Marissa Mayer (neo-CEO of Yahoo), as well as George Soros. Other names of notice include Henry Kissinger, Larry Summers and economist Nouriel Roubini, a.k.a. Dr. Doom, who’s not scheduled to give speeches but is tweeting like mad.

Oh yes, and there’s also Charlize Theron. She just delivered some of the opening remarks.

Program:

The official theme of this year’s reunion is “resilient dynamism,” whatever that means. (The cryptic title is in keeping with tradition. For a sample of past, inscrutable wording choices see here.) For the official program, see here.

Recommended reads:

Leading financial lobby group warns investors not to get caught short in emerging markets

By The Associated Press - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

ZURICH – A leading lobby group for the world’s financial institutions is warning investors not to get caught short in emerging markets in the event that the cheap money policy of the past few years comes to an end.

The Institute of International Finance says Tuesday that the withdrawal of massive stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other rich-country central banks could lead to a “boom-bust cycle” in emerging markets if investors are unprepared.

Low interest rates around the world over the past five years have boosted investments into faster-growing emerging countries — where money can earn a better return.

The report was released ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where some 2,500 business and political leaders are gathering to discuss economic risks ahead this year.

Medvedev, Merkel, Monti, Cameron to headline annual World Economic Forum

By The Associated Press - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 11:37 AM - 0 Comments

GENEVA – Promoting measures to get the global economy out of its crisis mode will be the focal point of next week’s annual gathering of world leaders and power brokers in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, organizers said Wednesday.

Four European leaders — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Premier Mario Monti — will deliver speeches on how to push forward the global economic revival, according to officials from the World Economic Forum.

The global economy has faced a number of hurdles over the past few years, but next week’s meeting in Davos appears to be taking place in a more benign atmosphere than many participants may have thought possible just a few months ago. Continue…

Medvedev, Merkel, Monti to headline annual World Economic Forum in Davos

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 5:19 AM - 0 Comments

GENEVA – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Premier Mario Monti will headline next week’s annual gathering of world leaders and power brokers in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

The World Economic Forum said Wednesday that the three European leaders will focus on how to promote a global economic revival. Nearly 50 presidents and prime ministers, over 1,000 chairmen and CEOs of global companies are due to attend the event Jan. 23-27.

Others who are expected to attend include Microsoft founder Bill Gates, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

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Harper’s dream audience: an empty room in Switzerland

By Richard Warnica - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 10:32 AM - 0 Comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took flak recently after he delivered a major policy speech in Davos, Switzerland, rather than test the message first on a local audience. But as it turns out, Harper may not have had much of an audience abroad, either. Canadian academic Daniel A. Bell was at the Davos summit. In a piece for the Huffington Post, he described what happened when Harper took the podium following a Q&A between Bill Gates and the president of Mexico. “(T)he room emptied,” Bell wrote. In Harper’s defence, an empty room in Switzerland is at least as dignified as the Canadian House of Commons. The food is probably better and Peter Goldring isn’t always bugging you about Turks and Caicos.

Huffington Post

Open Parliament

Q & A: critical experts wade in on the OAS debate

By John Geddes - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 12:30 PM - 0 Comments

A tough, detailed appraisal of the government’s plan to somehow curb Old Age Security spending is available today both on 3D Policy’s webite and over at iPolitics as a featured opinion.

It’s by two former senior finance department mandarins, Scott Clark and Peter DeVries, and brings badly needed clarity to the debate sparked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s surprise remark about his intention to reform pensions in his “major transformations” speech last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Clark and DeVries argue that since the government has already clamped down on spending growth in big-ticket areas like defence and health, the projected rise in OAS costs isn’t by itself large enough to pose any real threat to federal finances.

Their commentary is well worth reading, but I also took the opportunity to interview Clark this morning for a less formal sense of how he sees this volatile debate unfolding. He brings the unique perspective of a former deputy minister of finance, and a key insider during the fight to eliminate the deficit back in the 1990s—when the Liberals decided against cutting seniors benefits as too politically risky.

Here’s part of our conversation, edited and condensed:

Continue…

The Commons: Having it both ways

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 6:28 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. For the benefit of the House, Nycole Turmel relayed what she’d taken from what the Prime Minister said last week when he was some 6,264 kilometres from here.

“Mr. Speaker, Canadians are bracing themselves for the deepest round of cuts since Paul Martin, cuts to services Canadians need, like the OAS and EI,” she offered.

Members of the government side audibly whined at this reference to the previous prime minister.

“These cuts will hurt people, hurt seniors, hurt jobs and hurt our communities,” Ms. Turmel continued. “When will the Prime Minister tell Canadians the bad news, on his next trip to Switzerland or somewhere else in the world?”

Last week, so far away from this place, the Prime Minister had been full of dramatic phrasing. “Major transformations,” he said. Demographics posed a “threat” to that which we “cherished.” The deep holes of Europe and the United States threatened to grow deeper. The very future of our society hung in the proverbial balance. Continue…

What does it all mean?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments

On the same day the Prime Minister promises “major transformation,” Tony Clement hints at deeper budget cuts.

Paul thinks we just heard a Throne Speech. Mark Kennedy figures the age of eligibility for Old Age Security will be raised from 65 to 67. Peter Julian and Scott Brison are worried.

“Now, he’s threatening … seems to be trying to precondition us to cuts to the OAS, which is there to help the lowest income Canadians,” charged Mr. Brison. “At a time when other global leaders at Davos are addressing income inequality not only is Harper ignoring it he’s threatening to make it worse.” Mr. Brison asserted the OAS is “very important for low income seniors and one of the reasons why Canada is successful economically is because we are progressive socially and we help vulnerable people.”

Tangentially, Susan Delacourt notes that the Prime Minister was recently advised to think “big.”

And for whatever insight might be gleaned into where this is all going—or at least what the next little while is going to sound like—here are the official Conservative talking points on the Prime Minister’s speech. Continue…

‘To seize and to master our future’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 2:39 PM - 0 Comments

The prepared text of the Prime Minister’s remarks in Davos today.

“Thank you Professor Schwab for that kind introduction, I also want to thank you particularly for the invitation to speak here that you extended to me earlier this year.  But more than that, Professor, you have made the World Economic Forum an indispensable part of the global conversation among leaders in politics, business, and civil society.  And in the face of continuing global economic instability, the opportunity this gathering provides is now more valuable than ever.  So I know everyone here joins me in thanking you for, in service of the common good, your vision and your leadership.

“My Greetings to Ambassador Santi; to the Governor General of the Bank of Canada, known internationally as Chair of the Financial Stability Board, Mark Carney; to our hard-working Minister of International Trade, Ed Fast; and to the best finance minister on the planet, Jim Flaherty.  And let me just say that I’m especially proud to see so many outstanding Canadian business leaders making their presence felt here in Davos.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I will use my time today to highlight Canada’s economic strengths and to frame the choices we face as we work to secure long-term prosperity for our citizens in a difficult global environment that is likely to remain so.

Continue…

Harper promises “major transformations” in Davos speech

By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM - 0 Comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that his government plans to revamp Canada’s immigration, pensions and research and development policies. “In the months to come, our government will undertake major transformations to position Canada for growth over the next generation,” Harper told the 2,600 government and business leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos. In delivering the keynote speech of the conference, Harper was widely expected to touch on the key aspects of the Conservative government’s upcoming budget. Many of the specific policy points were left unsaid, but Harper did say that, when it comes to immigration, Ottawa will emphasize attracting those with the labour skills that Canada needs. Harper also warned developing countries not to assume that their relative prosperity compared with countries in Africa, South America and Asia is “somehow the natural order of things.” He asked “whether the creation of economic growth, and therefore jobs, really is the No. 1 policy priority for everyone,” adding that his government is working to ensure Canada’s economic stability and expansion. He also emphasized his support for increased trade with Asia, especially when it comes to oil.

The Globe and Mail

Harper to deliver keynote speech in Davos

By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:21 AM - 0 Comments

With his standing among world leaders bolstered by a relatively healthy domestic economy and a stable banking sector that’s the envy of debt-riddled Europe, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will deliver the keynote speech on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. World leaders and business moguls are gathered there this week to discuss issues in the global economy, such as the threats presented by the European debt crisis and potential for profit and growth in developing countries.

Harper is expected to touch on those issues in his speech. But he’s also slated to outline key provisions of his government’s upcoming budget, which is expected to include signficant austerity measures, The Globe and Mail reported Thursday morning. Harper will also try to drum up enthusiasm for foreign investment in Canada, which he hopes will drive economic activity as his government pulls back on stimulus spending. British Prime Minister David Cameron notably used his address to support Canada-EU free trade agreement, another expected talking point in Harper’s address.

Harper has long touted Canada as having a strong economic foundation. In a statement released by the PMO on Thursday, the Conservative government claimed that “thanks to Canada’s economic action plan,” the national economy “has recovered from the global recession better than most countries.”

It should be noted that such a cheery tone may not be fully justified. According a report written by Canadian Autoworkers economist Jim Stanford, released Wednesday, Canadian GDP and job growth haven’t recovered to pre-recession levels, at least on a per-capita basis. “The self-congratulatory tone of so many official pronouncements in Canada is clearly unjustified,” Stanford concludes.

The Globe and Mail

Harper to address stagnant capital in Davos

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 1:17 PM - 0 Comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, a gathering of more than 2,600 business and government leaders. On Wednesday, Harper is meeting with Canadian business leaders, including the CEOs of Desjardins Group, Barrick Gold, Jim Leech of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Charles Sirois, chairman of CIBC. Unease about the health of the global banking system and world economy is encouraging large companies to hoard their capital, rather than invest it new projects, a topic Harper has touched on in the past. The prime minister is expected to try and find ways to encourage such companies to invest stagnant capital, which would create jobs and spur economic activity. Harper is also expected to hold discussions with leaders from developing economies as he seeks to find new customers for the Canadian oil industry. On Thursday, Harper will deliver a speech to the forum, where he will frame the key points of his government’s upcoming budget, which is expected to include significant austerity measures, according to the CBC.

CBC

Please remain seated

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 29, 2010 at 3:47 PM - 58 Comments

Stephen Harper, Nov. 21, 2009. We believe strongly that Canadians’ freedom is enhanced when journalists are free to pursue the truth, to shine light into dark corners and assist the process of holding government’s accountable.

CBC, today. Harper flew back from Switzerland today.  While in the air his office announced the appointment of five new Senators and the Supreme Court ruled he has the power to decide to ask if Omar Khadr could be repatriated. What does Harper have to say about these developments? Nothing. Journalists travelling with Harper are being kept on the plane to ensure the Prime Minister doesn’t face any questions in his short jaunt from the bottom of the staircase to his waiting limousine.