Prime Minister Stephen Harper is being assailed by opposition parties for running a federation on "autopilot" because he's refusing to meet this week with premiers gathering in Halifax.Harper faced attacks in and out of the House of Commons on Wednesday for declining the months-old invitation to meet with provincial and territorial leaders on Thursday and Friday to find solutions on how to spur the sluggish Canadian economy.
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will attend the meeting to offer the bank's outlook on the Canadian and global economies, and inflation in Canada.
Harper meets regularly with individual premiers, but opposition party leaders insist he is neglecting his duty to convene with premiers collectively to discuss important economic concerns, especially during a time of continued global economic turbulence.
"I don't know how you run a federation on autopilot. You do not run a federation on autopilot. You run it by engaging," interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae told reporters on Parliament Hill.
Much like the provincial and federal ministers of health and finance regularly meet, Rae said the prime minister should gather with the country's other first ministers.
"I don't know any other federation in the world where the first minister refuses to have a meeting with all the premiers. It's without parallel in the world," Rae said.
The meeting comes as the euro-zone has sunk back into recession, the United States is on the edge of a so-called fiscal cliff, and Canada's financial picture is rapidly deteriorating.
The Conservative government released a fall economic update last week that projected slowing economic growth and a federal deficit that is nearly $7 billion larger than estimated in the March budget.
The federal government is now forecasting a deficit of $26 billion for the current 2012-13 fiscal year and may not be able to balance the books until 2016-17, a year later than projected in the budget.
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair also criticized Harper on Wednesday for skipping the meeting, as the official Opposition grilled the government on the issue for the third consecutive day during question period in the House of Commons.
Mulcair has previously accused the premiers of B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan of being Harper's "messengers" in the battle over the impacts of a booming energy industry on the manufacturing sector and high Canadian dollar.
"The prime minister would have to realize the gravity of the (economic) situation and work alongside other levels of government here in Canada," Mulcair said.
"Why then, does the prime minister of Canada refuse to attend the premiers' economic summit in Halifax?"
Harper didn't directly answer the question, but argued that Canada continues to have the best performing economy of major developing countries, thanks to the policies and economic management of the Conservative government.
For the second consecutive day, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was left to defend Harper against opposition attacks over why he's not participating in the premiers' meeting.
"The prime minister meets regularly with the premiers and has done so since 2006.
"He has had more than 250 meetings and phone calls with the heads of other governments in Canada since 2006," Flaherty said.
"We certainly worked well with the provinces at the time of the fiscal crisis several years ago during the recession with the stimulus plan.
"We worked very well together and it helped Canada recover faster than any other country during that difficult time."
Original Article
Source: leader post
Author: Jason Fekete
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