XPost: can.general, can.politics, soc.culture.canada   
   From: abc@123.cl   
      
   PM say economy must come before election   
      
      
   By Kevin Dougherty, July 31, 2009   
      
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he doesn't need polls to tell him   
   Canadians would be happier without a fall election.   
      
   "No one wants another election," Harper said Thursday in rural Quebec.   
      
   Harper said his priority for the fall session of the House of Commons   
   remains the economy.   
      
   He said Canada is just shaking off "the biggest economic crisis since   
   World War II," but cautioned that the recovery is "very fragile," that   
   many remain jobless and Canadians don't want instability.   
      
   The opposition Liberals have been hinting they may use a confidence   
   vote this fall to defeat Harper's minority Conservative government and   
   bring on an election.   
      
   "We will see," Harper said when asked about the possibility Liberal   
   Leader Michael Ignatieff would use his dispute with the prime minister   
   over changes in paying employment insurance benefits to provoke an   
   election.   
      
   A committee of Liberal and Conservative MPs are spending the summer   
   trying to find common ground on employment-insurance reform, but the   
   two sides have traded jabs this week over their positions.   
      
   "We are going to continue to work with them," Harper said Thursday.   
      
   The prime minister said that if the Conservatives and Liberals can't   
   find common solutions on how to reform the employment insurance system,   
   the government will go ahead and make its own proposals to Parliament.   
      
   Harper said it's a "great tragedy" that workers who paid into the   
   system for so long now find themselves jobless and that helping the   
   unemployed is his government's focus.   
      
   "I would like to see the other parties focus on this as well. Although   
   we may not agree on the solutions, it is still important to focus on   
   the real issues and not political games," he said.   
      
   Harper's comments about economic recovery being fragile come after Bank   
   of Canada governor Mark Carney said last week that the economy is set   
   to return to growth in the coming months.   
      
   Other Conservative ministers, including Finance Minister Jim Flaherty   
   and Industry Minister Tony Clement, have also distanced themselves from   
   Carney's assessment.   
      
   The prime minister was asked about the severity of sentences for white   
   -collar fraudsters in the U.S., where 71-year-old Bernard Madoff was   
   handed 150 years in prison, contrasted with the early release from   
   prison of Quebec swindler Vincent Lacroix.   
      
   Harper said he wants stiffer sentences for crimes in Canada, including   
   white-collar crimes, but he leads a minority government and the   
   opposition has resisted his moves.   
      
   Lacroix, 42, was convicted in 2007 of bilking about 9,200 people out of   
   $115 million through his Norbourg group of mutual funds. He now faces   
   another 100 fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from an RCMP probe   
   into Norbourg.   
      
   He was recently released on parole after serving a sixth of his   
   sentence.   
      
   Meanwhile, asked Thursday what is his strategy to win a majority   
   government, with more seats in Quebec, Harper did not answer.   
      
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