OTTAWA — While the national jobless rate has climbed far too high, Canada will face a massive labour shortage after the global recession eases its grip on the country, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warns.
"I do think that it won't be long after the recession is over that we're going to start to see the longer-term problem, which is labour shortage in our economy," he said in an interview with CBC's The National Tuesday. "That is the big challenge. We were having this in some sectors in some parts of the country before the recession and I think that will be upon us almost as soon as the recovery ends."
Harper told anchor Peter Mansbridge Canada's 8.5% unemployment figure is too high — and that he wants it to eventually dip back to 5.5-6.5%.
"Until we start to see that, I won't be satisfied we're on the road to recovery," he said.
Canadians will not face higher taxes or slashed government services to slay the deficit, but Harper said stimulus spending will dry up after this year and growth in government spending will slow.
"He also defended his controversial decision to prorogue Parliament, insisting it's a way of recalibrating the government's agenda after an "extraordinary" year of economic instability and calling it "fairly standard procedure."
