Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has asked the Grit-dominated Senate to pass the government's new budget quickly, so that stimulus measures can take hold in the economy.
"The stimulus money is to get the job done now, to employ Canadians now in this construction season that's about to start," he said.
Flaherty's comments come as the latest in a torrent of sobering economic news showed that the U.S. has suffered the worst run of job losses since the 1930s.
The jobless data, released on Friday by the U.S. Labour Department, reflects growing uncertainty in Canada's largest trading partner, despite unprecedented moves by Washington to stabilize the economy.
Meanwhile, Flaherty stressed that the Conservative's budget, which was tabled in January, was designed to address the worst case economic scenario.
"We anticipated substantial deterioration in the budget," he said in Toronto on Friday.
When asked about predictions that economic recovery will take longer than expected and warnings that unemployment in Canada could hit 8.6 per cent this year, Flaherty said the government has planned for the worst.
"We were actually more conservative than the economists were," he said.
Flaherty hopes the Senate can quickly move the budget through the upper house so Ottawa can start funding infrastructure and construction projects by April.
"We're on track so far, so I'm comfortable where we are," he said, repeating his government's mantra that Canada is in the best economic position in the developed world.
"We're in better shape than most other countries in the world, that's the good news," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
