The budget better be a good one. Canada lost 34,400 jobs in December and 70,600 jobs in November. Now, January’s report indicates that Canada has lost 129,000 more jobs. Again, the manufacturing sector was hit hard primarily in Ontario, with BC and Quebec also taking a significant loss. I hope Prime Minister Stephen Harper will begin to take this situation seriously.

Last month, Harper said that while our job losses are “troubling,” the US is far worse off. It’s time for him to stop looking to the US and to take action to fix Canada’s economy.
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Job Losses of 34,400 in December Make for a Grim Outlook in 2009

Statistics Canada announced on Friday that 34,400 jobs were lost in December, following November’s loss of 70,600 jobs. Prime Minister Stephen Harper called these numbers “troubling” but maintains that the situation in the US is a lot worse. Our neighbours down south lost over 1 million jobs in the same time period. Although, with a population that is 10 times our size, their loss of 1 million jobs has virtually the same impact on the unemployment rate. As the unemployment rate down south hit a 16 year high of 7.2%, our rate rose to 6.6% and does not look like it will decline anytime soon. With such interdependent economies, there is no doubt that the situation in the United States will have a negative impact on Canadians. 2008 was the worst year for job loss in the US since World War II and this makes 2009’s outlook even grimmer for Canadians as the crisis continues to make its way north, according to both Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
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