Liberal Leader Stephane Dion offered a collegial tone in Parliament today, pledging his support for Wednesday's throne speech, before shooting down the Harper government's economic record.
Dion said he and his MPs will make sure the Tories act decisively to deal with the current economic crisis. But he indicated his government would not vote against the throne speech, which is a vote of confidence and could, in theory, take down the newly re-elected Conservative government if MPs vote against it.
Dion said it would be irresponsible to take down the government so soon after last month's election.
However, Dion warned that the Tories cannot take Liberal support for granted.
"While reviewing every government action, we will ask three key questions: will the government's proposals protect and create jobs? Is the government doing all that it can to safeguard Canadians' pensions and their savings? And are the government's proposals fiscally responsible," he said in a statement.
Dion said he is pleased that the Tory government has "adopted our proposal" to accelerate spending and work with experts and the provinces to deal with the economic crisis.
However, the more conciliatory approach didn't stop Dion from criticizing the Conservative government and its economic track record. The Grits have accused the Tories of carelessly squandering Canada's multi-billion dollar surpluses, which began under the former Liberal government after decades of surplus spending.
"During the election, the government misled Canadians about the possibility of a deficit. Now, with this throne speech the government is trying to mislead Canadians about the cause of that deficit. This deficit is the responsibility of the Conservative government, of this finance minister, of this prime minister," he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in the Commons that his government will work with provincial and global leaders to make sure that Canada will be least affected and first out of the economic downturn. He said that greater intergovernmental co-operation is the "silver lining" behind the current crisis.
He added that Canada, like the U.S., Britain, and China, will boost spending to help the economy recover from one of its biggest downturns since the Great Depression.
"In a globalized economy, no country can escape international downturns all together," Harper said in the Commons.
Harper said the various plans put forward to deal with global crisis reflect Canada's "economic values."
"We have long avoided the extremes of either economic protectionism on the one hand and ungoverned markets on the other -- that whatever their appeal invariably lead to heartbreak for businesses, consumers, and workers alike," he said.
Like Dion, Harper also called for greater co-operation between the political parties in Parliament to "help deal with the enormous" economic challenges. He called on all MPs to move beyond partisan politics.
