Harper Flip Flops, Canada needs Public Works Projects

CANADA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has flip flopped on the political funding issue, but still has no economic plan for the future.

Kory Teneycke, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's communications director, says the subsidy issue isn't worth tipping the country into an election or a constitutional crisis. HOWEVER the actual wording of the Liberal motion of non-confidence is:

"In light of the government's failure to recognize the seriousness of Canada's economic situation and its failure in particular to present any credible plan to stimulate the Canadian economy and to help workers and businesses in hard-pressed sectors such as manufacturing, the automotive industry and forestry, this House has lost confidence in this government and is of the opinion that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons."

That means Harper also needs to flip flop again and come up with a new economic plan in the space of 9 days and convince the Canadian public that his economic plan is sound. Harper's method of doing nothing on the economy or laissez-faire is the issue at stake. Canada needs to be acting, not sitting on their hands which is what Harper has been doing during his almost three years in office.

So can Harper flip flop and create a solid fiscal plan in the space of 9 days that will win Liberal, NDP or BQ support? Somehow we doubt it. Anything he does will be a token and hardly a good solution to the current economic crisis.

So what should an Accord Coalition government do instead?

What Canada needs is a series of public works projects to create jobs in Canada, using Canadian steel, Canadian cement and Canadian sweat. We have no shortage of public works projects that need to be done.

We need to build and repair more roads, highways, bridges and canals.

We need to build electrical dams, solar/wind farms and windmills to provide energy to isolated regions of Canada.

We need to build/expand schools, colleges, universities, libraries, public art galleries, museums.

We need to bolster our major tourists centres with boardwalks, waterfronts.

We need to build cement blockades to halt erosion of PEI's coastline.

We need to expand Newfoundland and Labrador's network of roads.

We need to expand Montreal and Toronto's existing subway systems.

We need to recycle more of Ontario's waste instead of paying to ship it to a landfill in Michigan.

We need to build a series of permanent dykes, dams and flood gates to prevent yearly flooding of Manitoba's cities and towns.

We need to dig wells or build water recycling plants in regions with with fresh water scarcity.

We need to build storage facilities/treatment centres to manage and filter all the water pollution coming from the Alberta oil sands.

We need to build better/safer roads in the Canadian rockies, more tunnels and suspension bridges.

We need to build roads in Canada's far north, military bases/training grounds, radar/sonar towers to monitor usage of the Canadian north west passage and research facilities to monitor the effects of climate change in the Canadian tundra.

We estimate it would only cost $9.36 billion/year to employ 300,000 Canadians to do some of the projects listed above. In 2007 Canada had a budget surplus of $13.1 billion US and we might have a similar surplus this year. That is more than enough to get us started.

Canada has over 1.08 million unemployed people looking for work and a lot of public works projects that need to be done. If we do just half of the projects listed above it will keep Canadians working for years, bolster the economy, boost spending, lessen private debt and create a stronger, more efficient Canada.