OTTAWA - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is warning that Canadians will suffer more than necessary unless the opposition grants him a free hand to quickly spend $3 billion in stimulus money from the recent federal budget.
The finance minister took to the airwaves Friday afternoon, appearing in television interviews to make the case that it's worth taking shortcuts in injecting cash into the economy even if that risks some of the money being ill-spent.
"If we followed the normal course, none of this money would flow for months, probably into the summer months," he explained on CTV Newsnet.
"The risk is too great for Canada for us to say, `Well, we don't want to make any mistakes at all, therefore, we won't flow the money for six months.' The recession is severe, we need to deal with it."
Flaherty added "thousands and thousands of people will be negatively affected. The infrastructure won't be happening, the spending won't be happening in our municipalities, repairing roads, repairing bridges, putting new roofs on community centres, rinks and arenas."
It was the second time in three days that Flaherty made the argument that rushing budget spending to kick-start the economy was worth the risk of foul-ups.
But Friday, Flaherty seemed to up the ante by talking about the hurt it would cause Canadians if the money is not fast-tracked and spent during the April-to-June period, the first three months of the 2009-2010 budget year. And he described the state of Canada's economy in the harshest terms to date.
Noting that Statistics Canada will issue a report Monday on economic performance during the 2008 fourth quarter, the minister said the number will show a "substantial drop," describing the economy as "falling off the table."
Private sector economists have estimated the country's gross domestic product could shrink between three and four percentage points in the September-December period.
But while agreeing the economy needs stimulus, opposition parties have expressed concern over giving the Harper government "a blank cheque" to rush $3 billion in spending in a special fund without the normal parliamentary checks and balances.
Still, Liberal finance critic John McCallum said his party hasn't ruled out voting in favour of the measure when it is presented in the House of Commons March 26.
"We are going to look at it very carefully and we are going to ask penetrating questions," he said.
One area he said needs to be cleared up is whether the special fund would go only for initiatives outlined in the Jan. 27 budget, or whether the government can do "virtually anything it wants" with the money.
The New Democrats have asked for the government to establish a website so Canadians can follow the money trail.
Flaherty said Friday the spending would be scrutinized by Treasury Board, the comptroller general and eventually the auditor general, and suggested a website could also be established.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper threatened an election if the budgetary measures, including the emergency fund, are defeated.
In a related matter, Flaherty said the government would not bail out media companies such as the CTV, CanWest Global and the CBC, which are struggling because of loss of advertising revenue during the recession.
