Harper Gives Keynote Address To World Economic Forum
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave the keynote address to the World Economic forum in Davos Switzerland today. He began by speaking plainly about the needs of everyday people who worry about just making sure there is a meal on the table and gave praise to the founder of the World Economic Forum. The Prime Minister then laid out his outline for the upcoming G-20 and G-8 talks in Toronto, first by giving praise to the accomplishments of the G-20 in previous meetings by finding compromise, followed by a hope that the G-20 will move forward with a sense of shared responsibility with regards to the global economy.
Financial sector reform was the highest priority in his speech, noting that no Canadian banks needed a bailout and he proposed strengthening national systems with adequate regulations and international peer review to prevent another crash. Harper proceeded to qualify his call for tougher regulations saying that regulations can't be too tough, although without getting into specifics other than advertising the Canadian banking system as a model system.
The second priority of the G-20, according to Mr. Harper, was the world wide stimulus packages which saved the world economy from the brink of a depression. He gave praise to the decision to move forward with stimulus plans, but warned against prolonging stimulus spending, mentioning his governments upcoming budget that will include steep cuts.
Much of the rest of the speech was full of vague rhetoric and was rather bland, but it was important to note that a conservative Prime Minister recognized the need for regulations on financial institutions because the private market cannot be trusted to police itself.
The other thing I would like to mention is that the latest EKOS poll released to the CBC has the Conservatives and Liberals in a virtual tie for the second straight week, indicating a trend. Some of the Prime Minister's speech was directed at Canadians, which I'm sure didn't add to the excitement for those listening to this rather boring speech, but Canadians should understand that it will be back to business as usual for a government who had to be forced by the opposition into providing a stimulus for the country after claiming everything was fine.
Watch the address below:
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Financial sector reform was the highest priority in his speech, noting that no Canadian banks needed a bailout and he proposed strengthening national systems with adequate regulations and international peer review to prevent another crash. Harper proceeded to qualify his call for tougher regulations saying that regulations can't be too tough, although without getting into specifics other than advertising the Canadian banking system as a model system.
The second priority of the G-20, according to Mr. Harper, was the world wide stimulus packages which saved the world economy from the brink of a depression. He gave praise to the decision to move forward with stimulus plans, but warned against prolonging stimulus spending, mentioning his governments upcoming budget that will include steep cuts.
Much of the rest of the speech was full of vague rhetoric and was rather bland, but it was important to note that a conservative Prime Minister recognized the need for regulations on financial institutions because the private market cannot be trusted to police itself.
The other thing I would like to mention is that the latest EKOS poll released to the CBC has the Conservatives and Liberals in a virtual tie for the second straight week, indicating a trend. Some of the Prime Minister's speech was directed at Canadians, which I'm sure didn't add to the excitement for those listening to this rather boring speech, but Canadians should understand that it will be back to business as usual for a government who had to be forced by the opposition into providing a stimulus for the country after claiming everything was fine.
Watch the address below:
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