Finance minister resists calls for stimulus spending
In a speech in New York City today, Finance Minsiter Jim Flaherty took a stern tone, urging Europe to renegotiate Greece’s debt and “move on.” Flaherty chided Europe for its “slow response to this crisis.” He added, “This crisis could have been averted before it threatened global growth.” The Canadian government wants to see an expansion of the European bailout fund to prevent Greece’s problems from spreading, but Flaherty declined to comment on the International Monetary Fund’s new proposal to buy Spanish or Italian bonds to reassure investors about those countries. As for Canada, Flaherty said this week that he’s not planning billions of dollars in new stimulus spending, and that it would take another global recession for him to change course.