This just in:

Canada’s auto manufacturing sector is expected lose money for the third consecutive year in 2008, with losses ballooning to $1.7 billion this year, according to the Conference Board’s Canadian Industrial Outlook: Canada’s Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry.

“Canadian auto manufacturers remain caught in a maelstrom of cyclical and structural industry changes, a trend that is unlikely to improve until at least 2010,” said Sabrina Browarski, Economist.

"Never again will we allow the spectre of overspending to haunt this land," then Finance Minister Paul Martin said 1998. "Canadians have paid to see the movie ‘The Deficit'. They don't want to pay to see the sequel." Now, just over a decade later, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is bracing Canadians to watch that sequel. It's a remarkable turn for Harper who has fought against deficits and in favour of balanced budgets his entire political life. Indeed, he and other former Progressive Conservatives left the the party of Brian Mulroney in the early 1990s partly because of their disgust in his inability to rein in government spending and tackle the deficit . . .

"In terms of the education job, I think we've done a good job at educating the public to the view that deficits are generally bad," Stephen Harper said Sunday. "We now may be in a period where we have to educate the public to a somewhat less simplistic view. There are occasions where deficits are not only not necessarily bad, they are essential."

Here are some excerpts from then finance minister Paul Martin's budget speech on Feb. 24, 1998: "What I am about to say is something no Canadian government has been able to say for almost 50 years. We will balance the budget next year. We will balance the budget the year after that. And, Mr. Speaker, we will balance the budget this year." And here is Prime Minister Stephen Harper today ...

Filing tonight from The Prince Hotel in Lima Peru: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking here on the eve of the APEC leaders' summit, said markets "remain in a state of fear" and vowed to take "unprecedented fiscal actions if they are necessary" to stimulate economic growth and ease tightened credit conditions . . .

The PMO's chief spokesman Kory Teneycke on off-the-record stuff: "....The use of extensive use of unnamed sources is not the most flattering feature of journalism in Canada. However, this is not new or unique to this government, and has very little, if anything at all, to do with briefings held by our office. Macleans – or any other Canadian media outlet for that matter – would be virtually empty, if they were to remove stories quoting an unnamed source, or written on the basis of information provided on background...."

A month after the Liberal Party of Canada recorded their lowest popular vote percentage since George Brown lost to Sir John A. Macdonald in 1867, Liberal support is now within the margin of error of Conservative support, says pollster Nik Nanos.

"...The government also said it would not commit to balancing the budget next year, saying that trying to do that at any cost would hurt Canadians more than it might help them. A month ago on the campaign trail, though, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was unequivocal in saying his government would never go into deficit. . .But Jean, reading the throne speech with Harper at her side, said, "In a historic global downturn, it would be misguided to commit to a balanced budget in the short term at any cost."

CBC News North takes note of the achievements of Nunavut's new premier and Canada's new health minister: "With Eva Aariak set to be sworn in as Nunavut's second premier Wednesday, some in the territory are applauding a year that has seen two Inuit women assume prominent leadership roles at the territorial and federal level . . .

"Better positioning Canada to compete for investment and market opportunities will require action at home. A fragmented regulatory environment for internal trade and commerce has for too long restricted the flow of labour and investment across the country. Our Government will work with the provinces to remove barriers to internal trade, investment and labour mobility by 2010"