Prime Minister Stephen Harper, shown arriving at Rideau Hall last month, may have time before hitting the panic button on the looming demographic shift, experts say.CHRIS WATTIE
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who prorogued Parliament to recalibrate his government's agenda, says a broader to-do list will have to await economic recovery.
"We'll have, obviously, a discussion of a wider and broader agenda as the recovery takes hold," Mr. Harper told reporters following an infrastructure announcement in Vancouver Monday.
Any new agenda items will be considered in a framework of fiscal restraint, he said.
"We'll have a lot of priorities but those things are going to have to be tackled in a way that doesn't involve great fiscal expense to the government"
The government will have a Throne Speech on Wednesday, a day ahead of the budget.
Mr. Harper said he had spent more time with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on this week's fiscal plan than any other though it would be the "smallest" from his government.
"We're now in the business of figuring out what are all the things we have to say 'no' to instead of all the things we have to say 'yes' to. That's proven to be a much tougher exercise, but one that has to be done," he said.
The Prime Minister took cautious comfort from news that Canada's Gross Domestic Product grew by 5 per cent in the fourth quarter - the biggest gain in nine years.
While he described them as "encouraging," he added: "I don't think our message changes based on one month's figures."
On another issue, Mr. Harper said he does not expect a bounce for his government based on Canada's strong gold-medal showing in the just-concluded Winter Olympics.
"I think the Games are all about the country, all about the athletes," he said.
"We'll leave our political battles for another day."