Strong Job Gains Suggest Austerity Plans a Gross Miscalculation for Canada, says CAW President

TORONTO, April 5, 2012 /CNW/ - CAW President Ken Lewenza welcomes the news that Canada's economy created 82,000 new jobs in March but raises concerns that the large boost in employment signals a gross miscalculation on the part of the Harper government, as well as various provincial governments, aiming to push through austerity budgets.

"Tens of thousands of new jobs could be the first hopeful sign of a real jobs recovery in Canada," said Lewenza, responding to today's release of the March unemployment figures via the Statistics Canada monthly Labour Force Survey.  "But the federal government's austerity budget and those of other provincial governments will strongly undermine the hope of any economic turnaround, as thousands more join the ranks of the unemployed, due to massive budgetary cuts."

"Economists the world over have warned politicians to steer clear of harsh, short-term austerity measures as a means of balancing budgets yet Canadian governments have chosen to plug their ears," said Lewenza.

"The worry now is that workers and their families will pay the price of this short-sightedness and misjudgement. With spending cuts poised to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs at all levels of government, what could have been a hopeful sign of positive change for Canada's approximately 1.5 million unemployed could be no more than a temporary blip."

Lewenza renewed his call for a national jobs strategy which would seek to create good, sustainable, permanent jobs and stop the growth of precarious, temporary jobs.

please contact CAW Communications Shannon Devine (cell) 416-302-1699 or Angelo DiCaro (cell) 416-606-6311