Economy off the Election Radar

In certain areas such as the north the economy does seem to be an issue and that may help the New Democrats a bit. The politicians are probably glad that the loss of manufacturing jobs does not seem like a big issue because they really have no solution for it as far as I can see. They accept globalisation trends because the people who count also accept them.

Economy right off the radar

Sep 30, 2007 04:30 AM
Thomas Walkom

The economy isn't a sleeper issue in the Ontario election campaign. It isn't an issue at all. Politicians aren't talking about it much. Neither are the voters.

According to an Environics poll Friday, only 5 per cent of Ontarians say that economic issues like jobs are top of mind. That's compared to the 14 per cent who list health care as their No. 1 issue and the 19 per cent who say they have no idea what they think.

Down here at the Star bunker, many of us find this odd. We think the Ontario economy is in a perilous state. The fact that the province has lost 148,000 manufacturing jobs since 2004 gives us shivers. The soaring Canadian dollar, which makes Ontario's exports less competitive in the United States, causes us to break into a cold sweat.

Recent financial market troubles having to do with dodgy American mortgages and the mysterious securities known as asset-backed commercial paper – as well as predictions that the U.S. may be facing recession – give us nightmares.

Out on the campaign trail, however, it is a different matter. The Conservatives are focusing on leadership (by which they mean Premier Dalton McGuinty fibs). The Liberals are homing in on what they call Conservative leader John Tory's hidden agenda (by which they mean he is Mike Harris in disguise.)

Tory did give an economic speech of sorts on Thursday, but it was a snoozer. He would reduce the same corporate taxes and red tape the Liberals say they are planning to cut.

The New Democrats talk about job losses, but – other than blaming McGuinty – offer curiously limited solutions.

They would subsidize the auto industry (which the Liberals already do) and create a so-called jobs protection commissioner who would use moral suasion to try to prevent plant closures.

They offer quite sensible proposals for laid-off workers – including the reintroduction of a wage protection fund to ensure that bankrupt companies don't stiff their employees.

Yet so far they have not suggested ways to ensure that new service sector jobs (what NDP leader Howard Hampton calls McJobs) are as highly paid as those lost in manufacturing.

I'm surprised, for instance, that Hampton hasn't promised to make it easier for McDonald's and Wal-Mart employees to unionize. That would hike those McJob wages.

Of course, one of the reasons why the party leaders are so cagey about the Ontario economy is that it's not in crisis.

Overall, more jobs have been created than lost in the last four years – which is why Ontario's unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 6.4 per cent. According to Statistics Canada, average incomes are up and average wages are rising.

Nor are all of these new jobs low-wage.

StatsCan says the vast majority are full-time. And many are in areas such as finance, communications or education that offer decent pay. Not all service workers sling hash.

While some areas of the province are hurting badly (Northern Ontario, Windsor, Hamilton) others aren't. Woodstock is getting a new Toyota plant; Honda is expanding in Alliston as is Ford in Oakville.

Downtown Windsor may look as if it has been hit by an atom bomb. But downtown Toronto is as sleek as Zurich.

None of this means that we at the Star will stop wringing our hands. I still shudder when I think of asset-backed commercial paper – whatever it is.

But it may explain why the economy isn't a big issue in this provincial election.



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Thomas Walkom's column appears Thursday and Sunday.