Roundup: Canada's second election debate focuses on economic concerns

Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the top leaders from the other two leading political parties held a second election debate on Thursday in the city of Calgary, Alberta, mainly focusing on the country's economic performance.

During the nationally televised debate in the heart of Canada's oil industry, Harper and his two main political rivals outlined their disparate visions for the economic recovery of Canada, which was officially fell into recession in the first half of this year.

Harper, who has been in power since early 2006, insisted his Conservative Party has offered the steadiest hand by cutting taxes, lowering spending and balancing the federal budget, unlike the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and Liberal Party that would spend more, hike taxes and run deficits.

On Monday, the federal Finance Department announced that Canada recorded a 1.9-billion Canadian dollar (1.5 billion U.S. dollar) surplus for 2014-2015, instead of the two-billion Canadian dollar deficit Harper's Conservative government forecasted in this year's budget.

On Wednesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development downgraded its outlook for Canada's economic growth to 1.1 percent for this year and 2.1 percent for next year -- largely due to the falling prices for natural resources, which, in Canada's case, focuses on oil.

The left-of-center New Democratic Party (NDP), which has never governed federally, tended to raise the corporate tax rate from 15 percent to 17 percent, but lower it from 11 percent to 9 percent for small businesses, saying that would create more jobs in the private sector.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said his party would spend over one billion Canadian dollars (800 million U.S. dollars) annually in infrastructure and public transit, while balancing the budget with an annual surplus of at least 3 billion Canadian dollars (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) for at least four years.

During the debate, Mulcair said the Harper government's "economic mismanagement" resulted in the loss of 400,000 manufacturing jobs and 300,000 more Canadians unemployed when the global recession began in 2008.

But Mulcair and Harper are at least on the same page about balancing the government's books.

Meanwhile, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau said he would spend 125 billion dollars (96.1 billion U.S. dollars) over the next decade on new infrastructure investment, or nearly double what the Conservatives have pledged. Trudeau would also raise taxes for Canada's wealthiest by one percent.

Trudeau, aged 43, is hoping to attract votes from young people who do not remember his late father, Pierre, a former Liberal prime minister whose government's spending spree significantly increased Canada's debt by the time he left office in 1984.

With his Liberals dropping to third place in the latest poll released on Wednesday that placed Harper's party at the first place, Trudeau will get his answer when Canadians vote on Oct. 19 in the country's 42nd federal election.

Four federal party leaders of Canada met in Toronto last month for their first debate of the 2015 federal election.

Conservative Prime Minister Harper, NDP leader Mulcair, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and Green Party leader Elizabeth May took part in the televised debate, hosted by Canadian national magazine Maclean's and moderated by its political editor Paul Wells.

The two-hour debate focused on national issues including economy, energy and environment, foreign policy and security. Endi