Well we all know how Stephen Harper likes to portray himself as a Great Economist Leader.
The brilliant leader with the best job record in the G7, or the best growth record since Jesus took five loaves and two fish, and fed five thousand.
And the ENVY of the world.
But sadly for him, Harper’s story is also starting to smell a little fishy.
Or just plain fraudulent.
Stephen Harper’s strategists should have felt a chill down their spine when they saw the latest job numbers. A weak Canadian jobs report last week hinted at a particularly damaging narrative for Mr. Harper. The job market is stubbornly soft in central Canada – the critical political battleground – while in the United States, it is gathering steam.
Because not only is the U.S. economy making our economy look like it’s stuck in neutral. Not only are we NOT number one in the G7.
We’re only number SIX.
And only the envy of ITALY….
The Conservatives have often repeated an argument that they have the best job record in the G7 since the depths of the recession, but that’s starting to get a bit stale, too. Since they were re-elected in June, 2011, Canada’s employment rate has grown more slowly than any G7 country except Italy.
Mama Mia. How embarrassing. So much for Great Economist Leader. So much for those bragging rights.
Compared to a year ago, Canada’s economy added just 72,000 net new jobs. How bad is that? Let’s put it in perspective. The average level of job creation for any 12 month period going back to 1977 is 214,000. Canada is creating jobs at just one-third the average rate of the last four decades.
So much for all those “full time high paying jobs.”
There’s no question that since the end of the recession the vast majority of new jobs have been full-time positions. But over the past two years the quality of new jobs has deteriorated with each passing year, to the point that since last June, roughly half of all new jobs were part-time.
So much for all those temporary foreign workers.
And all those “good jobs” his porky action ads claim he is creating for young Canadians.
When you break down the precarious job stats by age, workers between the ages of 25-44 saw a 18.2% increase in temporary work and only 4.9% in permanent jobs. That means temporary work represents nearly one-third of all jobs created in this age cohort (30.2%).
The economy has shed 47,100 permanent jobs for youth aged 15 to 24 since June 2009, representing a permanent job net-loss of 2.8% for this cohort. But at the same time, temporary work has increased by 7.1%. (The June 2014 job numbers reinforce how much young people are struggling.)
And of course, so much for Stephen Harper’s chances in the next election.
Because it should now be relatively easy for the opposition to use these figures to strip away his phony economic credentials.
Expose his hollow bragging.
And portray him as just another Con artist…
Wanted for fraud, and for trying to steal a country.
Old Slippery Steve, who thought he could fool Canadians into believing he was a real economist.
But was tripped up by reality, or caught trying to fiddle or diddle it, before he could steal another election.
And if after all that the Cons STILL try to claim that “We’re better off with Harper.”
All I can say is good luck with that one.
Because I know what I’m going to say eh?
Hey Slippery, it’s the economy. Stoopid.
And you’re about to be FIRED…
