On credit crunches

The latest economic message from Jack Layton still stops short of focusing on the link between the New Democrats' platform and economic stability. But it seems to set the stage for just that kind of link by emphasizing how the Cons' mismanagement is making it tougher for Canadians to keep up with their cost of living:

NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canadians should show "Stephen Harper the door" rather than give him a majority government because he didn't help working families as prime minister.

Layton said Harper and his Tories haven't shown strong leadership, but have instead given corporations and oil companies billions in tax breaks.

"This isn't the kind of leadership we need, is it? In fact, I don't think you can call it leadership at all," he said at a Sunday morning campaign stop in St. John's, N.L.

He said Harper wants a majority government even though he had for the past year what Layton called "a virtual majority" with Liberal and Bloc support in Parliament.

People are saying, "let's throw out Stephen Harper and let's bring in Jack Layton and the New Democrats," he said.

Layton warned the audience that a U.S. financial-sector-style economic meltdown is possible in Canada. He said he's been talking to Canadians who have told him they can't make their credit card payments or renew their mortgages because banks won't extend them credit.

"This is exactly what happened in the U.S.," he said.

Now, it's worth noting that there may be one significant difference between the two countries which Layton hasn't yet mentioned. After all, the U.S. meltdown was based in large part on derivatives which created massive immediate risks within the financial sector when mortgages started to go bad - in effect ensuring that corporations who were leveraged beyond their means began going under shortly after the first wave of consumers started doing the same.

In contrast, Canada's situation figures to leave a larger portion of the up-front damage at the consumer level, while potentially delaying the point at which financial institutions would start to go under as well. But that doesn't make matters any easier for Canadians facing a credit crunch in the short term. Which can only heighten the need for a government which will both pay attention to the needs of consumers, and consider it a top priority to make it easier for families to stay afloat.