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EXCERPTS
Outdated macho ideas about how men with shovels can dig the country out of recession need to be modernised to reflect the greater potential for job creation in service sectors dominated by women, according to Jack Layton.
The leader of the New Democratic Party said economic analysis showed government spending to get the economy going should be directed at fields dominated by female employment "like childcare, homecare or healthcare", in addition to big construction projects.
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Investment in these sectors can create almost double the number of jobs as money spent on infrastructure and four times the positions generated by tax cuts, the party leader said.
The opposition party has been meeting with private-sector economists and academics to refine its fiscal policies in anticipation of a confidence vote next week on the Conservative budget.
The vote will test the willingness of Michael Ignatieff, the new Liberal leader, to bring down the Conservatives and enter into a coalition with Mr. Layton.
The social democrats have been using the time since parliament was suspended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last month to burnish their economic credentials, consulting with the likes to Don Drummond, vice president at TD Bank, and Glen Hodgson, chief economist at the Conference Board.
Mr. Layton said the outside analysis showed government spending of $1-billion could be expected to create 5,000 jobs if used for tax cuts, 11,000 jobs if spent on physical infrastructure, and 20,000 jobs if invested in direct services to people like childcare and homecare.
The party leader told a gathering of business leaders at the Toronto Board of Trade on Friday the approach also dovetailed with the goal of the putative coalition to assist financially-stressed families, by creating more affordable childcare places.
"You create far more jobs per billion that way and you also help out far more people," he said.
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- reprinted from The National Post