While Harper calls for a tricky G20 “balancing act”
In New York City to deliver a speech today, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hiked his projection for Canadian economic growth over the next few years. By 2014, he said, the economy will be $24 billion bigger than his department previously expected. That reflects a survey of 15 private economic forecasters, who estimate Canada’s gross domestic product will grow by 3.5 per cent this year, up from 3.1 per cent in March, when Flaherty delivered his most recent federal budget. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an interview setting the stage for the G20 summit later this week in Toronto, said world leaders must send two arguably contradictory messages at the meeting—talking up stimulus and restraint at the same time. “I think that what markets are looking for,” Harper told Reuters, “is that we understand that we have to continue to deliver stimulus now but that in the mid-term countries, particularly highly indebted countries, have got to have credible plans to bring their fiscal houses in order. So it’s a balancing act.”