Canada's Liberals roll out economic team in tight election race

By Andrea Hopkins
TORONTO, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Canada's Liberals, trailing
third in the polls for October's election, on Tuesday rolled
out a heavyweight economic team including former finance
minister Paul Martin in a bid to counter charges that leader
Justin Trudeau is too inexperienced to lead the country.
The advisers include policymakers who erased the budget
deficit during the 12-year Liberal reign that preceded the
nine-year-rule of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
whom Trudeau derided for failing to balance the budget.
"Stephen Harper's economic team can fit in one room. All he
needs is one chair and a mirror," Trudeau told a news conference
as he introduced a team of advisers that includes former finance
minister Ralph Goodale and Martin, who was also prime minister
between 2003 and 2006.
While Harper seized on stock market volatility on Monday to
urge Canadians to stick with the ruling right-of-center
Conservatives, Trudeau said the prime minister was out of touch
with voters who have not felt economic security lately.
Canada's resource-dependent economy has been sideswiped by a
prolonged slump in global oil prices, and is teetering on a
recession.
"Mr. Harper may not feel it from (the prime minister's
residence at) 24 Sussex Drive, but his plan is not working for
millions upon millions of Canadians. And when a plan is not
working, the real risk is sticking with the status quo," Trudeau
said.
Harper's Conservatives - seeking a rare fourth consecutive
mandate - have prided themselves on their handling of the
economy but have posted a string of budget deficits since the
2008 financial crisis. Finance Minister Joe Oliver vows to
balance the budget in the 2015-2016 fiscal year, but the
economic slump threatens that forecast.
Recent polls suggest the Conservatives are neck-and-neck
with the left-leaning New Democrats and the centrist Liberals,
and could well lose its majority in the House of Commons.
Harper's opponents accuse the Conservatives of
over-investing in the oil and gas sector, leaving Canada
vulnerable to the price shock that is now threatening to drag
the entire country into recession.
Trudeau has promised middle class tax cuts and investments
in infrastructure, and on Tuesday he refused to say when he
would balance the budget if elected, saying he first needed to
know "the size of the mess Harper has left behind."