The FP reports that The CEO of TD bank directly contradicted Harper’s rosy prediction that Canada would be the first country out of the recession. What is more, he argued that Canadian Banks would not be leading the way as they were going to be forced to deal with the collapse of securitization and foreign funding.
Canada can’t lead global recovery: Clark
Mr. Clark said he did not agree with the U. S. government’s two-pronged approach of addressing the financial crisis and the recession. “They have the view that you can’t have the economy work if the banks don’t; I would say the banks won’t work if the economy doesn’t work,” he said. He added this period of reintermediation, which was fuelled by a “false boom” in consumer demand by artificially inflated credit markets, would hurt Canada, and he did not believe the country could lead the world in recovery.
“Just because our banks didn’t collapse, Canadians are running around saying, wow, aren’t we terrific. But the reality is this economy is going to get whacked just as hard as economies around the world.”
I am not sure that Canadians were running around talking about how terrific our national banks were and drawing the conclusion that we would experience a mild recession and be the first to recover but I do know it has been the Cons talking points for the last month.
Relentlessly Progressive Political Economy 