By Tom Bradley

I read that the recession is over. Both Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, and Mark Carney, the Bank of Canada Governor, have said so.

I also read that out here on the wet coast, our provincial government has been dragging its feet on contributing its share to capital projects being funded by the Federal government’s stimulus package. The City of Vancouver and other jurisdictions are waiting anxiously to find out whether they can go ahead with their projects.

Which raises an interesting question. If the recession is over and the housing market and auto markets are surprisingly robust, why is it that we, as taxpayers, are blowing our brains out pouring money into stimulus programs?

Now I, like most others, think this recovery is going to be sluggish and bumpy. It will feel a lot like the recession. But as long as we are not in a deep, life-threatening recession, the economy should be allowed to work itself out. We need to take our medicine as we go through the de-levering process. If we don’t, we’ll find ourselves back in intensive care in the near future.

Over the last year we’ve been forced to borrow some growth and prosperity from future years (and generations), just so we could get through this mess. There was no way around that. But to inefficiently pump money into the economy now, so our growth rate is slightly higher and unemployment rate slightly lower is insanity.

Please Mr. Harper. Change your mind. Turn off the tap. It will give you something to campaign on in the issue-less election we’re about to have.