Fall session of Parliament planned to tackle financial woes

By Meagan Fitzpatrick
Canwest News Service

Stephen Harper says he will recall Parliament this fall. (Andy Clark/Reuters)

OTTAWA - Stephen Harper, who returned to power with a strengthened minority government Tuesday night, says he will recall Parliament this fall and bring down an economic statement by the end of November as he tackles what he called the No. 1 job of the prime minister - protection of the country's economy.

Criticized by opposition leaders during the campaign for not having an action plan on the economy, Harper outlined six steps Wednesday that he plans to take in the coming weeks.

"The strengthened mandate we received from the people of Canada allows us to continue moving forward," he said during his first post-victory news conference in his home riding of Calgary.

Harper boosted his party's standings in the House of Commons to 143 seats, up from 127, but he was denied the 155 seats needed for a majority. The Conservatives captured 37.6 per cent of the popular vote, compared to the Liberals 26.2 per cent.

The Grits suffered a disappointing loss Tuesday night, dropping to 76 seats from 95 and prompting immediate questions about Stephane Dion's leadership of the party.

Harper said his re-elected finance minister Jim Flaherty and the Bank of Canada are constantly monitoring world markets and "will take appropriate actions" to support the country's financial system.

Harper did not explain what specific measures are being discussed among government and Bank of Canada officials and the Big Five banks. However, the National Post reported this week that the plan could involve such extraordinary measures as government guarantees on bank loans.

"I won't go through the options we are looking at, but let me just say the options we are looking at do not involve a significant outlay of taxpayers' money," Harper said.

As part of his economic action plan, Harper will attend the EU-Canada Summit in Quebec City on Friday, where he will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission president Jose Barroso to discuss economic ties and measures to protect the financial system.

More meetings form several other parts of the plan, Harper said, explaining that Canada will attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Brazil and has called for a follow-up meeting of G7 finance ministers. He also promised to convene a meeting with the provincial and territorial premiers to discuss the global financial crisis. But he said he would not attend a meeting of the provincial leaders on the economy already set for early next week.

Harper also said the government will continue with a four-year "strategic review" of public spending, suggesting more program cuts could be coming down the pipe.

After outlining his next steps, some closely resembling parts of the five-point plan proposed during the election and derided by Harper, the prime minister sought to reassure worried Canadians.

"These are challenging times. Canadians are worried right now and those worries are understandable, but I want to assure Canadians that together we will weather the storm and we will position our economy to emerge stronger than ever," he said.

Harper indicated Wednesday that he wants the forthcoming Parliament to be productive.

"My commitment, as I said last night, to the opposition leaders is to try and find ... some common ground to move the Parliament forward productively, because I know that nobody wants to talk about another election right now," he said.

Nevertheless, the prime minister would not rule out using confidence votes to push his agenda through the House of Commons, as he did in the last session of Parliament.

New Democratic Leader Jack Layton, whose party added seven seats for a total of 37, said Wednesday that Harper must abandon the "my way or the highway" tactic and be more flexible.

"I think he should realize that far more Canadians voted against his government than voted for it. He should respect Parliament and respect the results of the election and we'll proceed in the recognition of that fact," Layton told reporters in Toronto.

Layton said the parties must work co-operatively on economic issues and repeated a request he made during the election that was rebuffed by Harper for all party leaders to meet and be briefed by the government on the country's economic health.

Bloc Quebecois Leader GIlles Duceppe, whose party picked up two seats for a total of 50, also called on Harper to "realize that he doesn't have a majority."

Duceppe told reporters that if Harper continues the strategy of making bills confidence motions, it will show he is not responsible.

"Is he going to continue to trigger elections even though he's passed fixed date election legislation?" said Duceppe.

Dion was laying low on Wednesday and made no public appearances. During a call to Harper on Tuesday evening, however, Dion assured Harper that the economy is also his priority and that his party will co-operate to ensure Canadians are protected.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's results, he was under immense and immediate pressure to signal that he will step aside from the leadership. It is a decision that Dion will not rush, according to members of his inner circle.

Green Leader Elizabeth May, unsuccessful in her attempt to unseat Defence Minister Peter MacKay in Nova Scotia and shut out of the House of Commons , pledged to run again in the riding and asked Canadians for cash to help her party in the next election.

"Go to our website and make a donation... please help me out here folks," May said Wednesday.

The Greens did increase their share of the votes, grabbing 6.8 per cent of the ballots cast compared to 4.2 per cent in 2006.

Elections Canada had fewer ballots to count than ever before in this election, thanks to nearly 10 million eligible voters who didn't venture out on Tuesday to their polling station. According to preliminary figures, Canada recorded its lowest voter turnout in history with only 59.1 per cent of eligible Canadians voting. That breaks the previous low from the 2004 election when 60.9 per cent voted.

With files from Andrew Mayeda, Juiet O'Neill and Mike De Souza