Tag Archives: james moore

It ain’t easy to spin dismal job numbers

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The Conservative government relied on a familiar refrain to try to spin its way out of Friday’s awful jobs report released by Statistics Canada.

First, the facts:
  • Over the past year, “one full-time job was added for every four part-time jobs.”
Second, the analysis from Bay Street:
  • “Scotiabank note calls jobs numbers a shocker, weakest job growth by far since the recession.”
  • “Disappointment across the board,” said Mark Chandler, head of fixed income and currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
  • “That full-time employment growth is nearly flat in the past year while part-time job growth is up 2.5 per cent ‘indicates that businesses are not eager to expand payrolls,'” said Arlene Kish, senior principal economist at IHS Global Insight.
Third, a recap of past Conservative spin:

Whenever faced with bad economic news, the Conservatives claim that Canada leads the G-7 in jobs and economic growth since the recession. They make this misleading statement by using selective statistics.

When population growth and purchasing power are taken into account to get the complete picture, Canada falls behind G-7 countries Germany, Japan and the United States. That’s fourth place (out of 7!).

Fouth, the go-to spin:

Watch Industry Minister James Moore try to spin the bad news using the “Yah, but we’re still #1” discredited stat.

Federal Minister says child poverty not Ottawa’s problem

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James Moore says child poverty falls under provincial jurisdiction

Sara Norman December 15, 2013 http://www.news1130.com

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It was a disturbing milestone for BC this year–child poverty watchdogs announced our province is in the number one spot when it comes to kids in need. But it seems the Federal Government won’t be helping out.

“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” That from Federal Minister of Industry James Moore who is also the Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. He says it’s the responsibility of the provinces to deal with child poverty, and Ottawa has no plans to step in.

The Federal Government has been criticized for not meeting a unanimous motion passed in the House of Commons back in 1989 to end poverty by the year 2000. Nothing was done, but the motion was renewed in 2009. Child Poverty Watchdog Campaign 2000 says to this date there has been no movement from Ottawa on helping the estimated 1 in 7 kids living in poverty in our country.

Here in BC, thousands of kids go to school hungry every day because they’re not getting enough to eat. Of late, schools across Metro Vancouver have been left with the difficult decision on whether to put already strained resources into creating lunch and breakfast programs for students in need.

“Certainly we want to make sure that kids go to school full bellied, but is that always the government’s job to be there to serve people their breakfast?” Moore says Ottawa is helping keep kids fed by creating more jobs, and while unemployment was up in BC last month, joblessness across Canada was down.

“We’ve never been wealthier as a country than we are right now. Never been wealthier,” Moore claimed at an event Friday. He says how poverty is defined is not the same across the country.