Some random thoughts ahead of the Prime Minister’s dinner tonight at 24 Sussex with the Premier’s:
- Jobs: The economy is at the top of the agenda and there’s some new data that might be part of the discussion. The latest job numbers are now out for December and while the unemployment rate did not change — at 5.9% it is still near a 33–year-low — there were some job losses in the month, namely the disappearance of 33,200 private sector job losses. The Canadian Labour Congress has a release out nothing that, for all of 2007, Canada’s economy lost 132,000 manufacturing jobs. That’s a number that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest will circle as they fight for more help for their beleaguered manufacturing sectors. The feds though may point out that Canada’s economy performed so well in 2007 that not only did it replace those 132,000 lost manufacturing jobs it created more. As a result, the net gain for jobs in 2007 was a whopping 370,000. Strong gains in the service and public sector were the big reasons.
- Surpluses: Premiers McGuinty and Charest, joining forces now after a couple of years of being on the opposite sides of a lot of issues, are saying that Harper’s announcement yesterday of a $1–billion trust fund to help small one-industry towns hurt by layoffs and plant closings is not enough. They want Harper to dip into the surpluses generated by the Employment Insurance plan, which some believe total $54–billion. The federal government may turn the provinces around by pointing out that the combined surplus of the provinces and territories is estimated at $7.8–billion. The federal government’s estimated surplus, after spending that $1–billion yesterday, is now $600–million
- Relationships: Relationships in politics matter a lot and Prime Minister Harper has, at times, building a productive relationship with key Premiers. The group he hosts tonight at 24 Sussex is a substantially different group of men than those who darkened his door two years ago. For example:
- There are five new premiers, from PEI, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Harper and Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams are seeing a slight thaw in their frosty relationship.
- Charest and McGuinty, as I noted, are now teammates of a sort.
- Harper’s advisors say the Premier he now gets along best with is Manitoba’s NDP Premier Gary Doer. Only Nunavut Premier Paul Ogalik has been on the job longer than Doer.