Election Economics

A fall election is just what the economy needs.

Despite claims to the contrary, a fall election would boost, not hurt the economic recovery.

Based on the impact of last year’s October election on the economy, which was then sliding into recession, an election this fall would create some 40,000 full-time jobs across the country.

"With the federal election in mid-October, there were large employment gains in public administration, spread across most provinces,” Statistics Canada noted in an analysis of the employment changes during that month last year. “Most of the increase was among occupations related to the election process.”

“At the same time, employment declined in accommodation and food services,” it also noted in its analysis released in the month following the election. “There was little change for all other industries.”

And that doesn’t include any other positive impact on economic output and employment in both the public and private sectors leading up to and during an election such as that generated by the boost in political advertising at the riding and national levels and travel by candidates and their media contingents.

Further, economists have already dismissed the threat of any economic damage resulting from political uncertainty generated by an election.

Moreover, even another minority government wouldn’t add to the uncertainty as both the two main parties are basically committed to maintaining the current levels of economic stimulus and don’t diverge much on other economic issues.

True, the boost in employment and election related spending would be temporary, but so are government stimulus packages.

And, like other forms of government stimulus, the election related economic boost would help extend the recovery in the domestic side of the economy until the global economic recovery strengthens to the point that it begins to provide some stimulus to the export side of the economy.