Invest Carefully to Blunt Crisis and Drive Sustainable Economic Growth, Business Leaders Say

November 27, 2008

Canada is relatively well positioned to deal with the global economic crisis, but today’s federal Economic and Fiscal Statement shows that the government must use its available resources wisely, says the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).

“We are encouraged that the federal government is doing its best to avoid going into deficit.  However, it will be able, if necessary, to open the spending taps to blunt the impact of the current global crisis precisely because it ran surpluses and paid down debt for so many years,” said CCCE Chief Executive and President Thomas d’Aquino.

“The government must not waste its hard-won fiscal capacity.  It must rebuild confidence by looking after Canadians who need help in the short term, but it should focus on measures that will put Canada quickly back on track toward robust and sustainable economic growth,” he added.

“The unexpected severity of a crisis beyond Canada’s control means that families, enterprises and communities are facing real pain.  We applaud in particular the immediate measures being taken with respect to pensions, credit and the financial sector, as well as the government’s recommitment to the rigorous review of all federal spending,” Mr. d’Aquino said.

The CCCE is Canada’s senior business association.  It is composed of 150 chief executive officers and leading entrepreneurs from all major sectors and regions of the country, and was a leader in building a national consensus on the need to rein in spiraling government deficits in the early 1990s.

“Our governments have a responsibility to act, but any descent into deficit must last no longer than the economic downturn,” Mr. d’Aquino said.  “Canadians learned from bitter experience that entrenched deficits are a recipe for years of rising taxes and brutal cuts in public spending.  We must not go down that road again.”

The CCCE has committed itself to working closely with governments to help Canadians deal with the consequences of the global economic downturn.  “Now more than ever, elected representatives also must do their utmost to cooperate across party lines in the interests of the country as a whole.  If Canadians pull together and draw on our many strengths, our country will emerge from this crisis stronger than ever,” Mr. d’Aquino said.

Founded in 1976, the CCCE is an association of business leaders committed to the shaping of sound public policy in Canada, North America and the world. CCCE members lead companies that collectively administer $3.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $800 billion, and are responsible for the vast majority of Canada’s exports, investment, research and development, and training.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are: Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Hartley T. Richardson and Annette Verschuren, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., James Richardson & Sons, Limited and The Home Depot Canada and Asia.