Mediaboss Marketing

The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

By: Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015 at 5:59 PM | Comments: 0

Enlarge Image

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau speaks to Liberal Members of Parliament and nominated Liberal candidates in Ottawa on December 10, 2014. Federal Liberals posted their best fundraising haul in a decade last year, filling their party's war chest just in time for this year's election. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

LONDON, Ont. - Justin Trudeau is casting his refusal to be pinned down on economic policy as a sign he's more prudent and fiscally responsible and even more prime ministerial than Stephen Harper, whom he accuses of making it up on the fly.

The Liberal leader asserted Tuesday that the calamitous plunge in oil prices demonstrates how reckless Harper's government has been in spending a budget surplus that is rapidly vanishing.

"I think it's become fairly clear that because Mr. Harper put all his eggs in the same basket, counting on oil prices remaining high, he is now reacting and flailing and indeed making it up as he goes along," Trudeau said outside the first day of a two-day Liberal caucus retreat.

A Conference Board of Canada report Tuesday estimated that the drop in oil prices to less than US$50 from more than US$100 a barrel last summer will drain $4.3 billion out of federal revenues this year.

The repercussions of the oil price slide prompted Finance Minister Joe Oliver to announce last week that he's postponing the budget until at least April.

Excerpt from:
Liberals post best fundraising results in 10 years, just in time for election