“You've made a mess of the economy. Canada has fewer jobs and we're the only G20 country in a recession. What are you doing wrong?”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
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Oral Questions
The Economy
In a debate on the economy during Oral Questions, the Conservatives pointed out Canada is the only G20 country in a recession with negative job growth since the beginning of the year. The Liberals mostly cherry-picked and celebrated a recent monthly jobs report showing 88,000 new jobs added, while glossing over broader economic challenges.
“I'm going to ignore the bad news and recession you mentioned and talk up the good job numbers instead. Look how great things are!”
“I have to bring up some good news first, but I'm really just here to keep talking about high unemployment numbers and Canada's bad economy.”
“I'll ignore how bad most numbers look and talk up the one youth number that looks good. Then I'll change the subject to a quote where BMO says Canada's economy is fine, to make that guy look like he's rooting against Canada. I want to keep talking about creating jobs for everyone.”
“The recession isn't just some idea from bad people. It's a real fact from Canada's official numbers. The government accepts worse unemployment as normal instead of trying to get back to where we were before. Canada's the only major economy like this. Why?”
“I want my opponents to stop saying we're in a recession. I'll say there are lots of new jobs so it looks like we're doing good.”
“Canada is in a recession. High house prices hurt young people. The other party should admit it.”
“I'm changing the subject to good news to avoid the bad news you brought up.”
“I want to agree that jobs are good. But I also want to shift the topic back to bad economic news. I especially want to focus on rising youth unemployment, and how unlikely it is this government will reduce the deficit. Is the government really unable to admit that Canada is the only G7 country in recession right now?”
“I want to say the numbers are good today, even though my colleague said they're bad. We created lots of jobs. Youth unemployment went down. I can show him Statistics Canada numbers to prove it. The Prime Minister is trying to make things more affordable. That's good.”
“Why won't any minister admit Canada is the only G7 or G20 country in recession? The banks are predicting the worst growth in the G7. The government won't admit it. They should stop hiding it.”
“It's good that jobs are being created. The government is spending a lot of money on the Quebec City tramway. That will create jobs. The opposition MP for Quebec City didn't want this project. That's bad.”