In a speech before the Economic Club of Toronto, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadians can expect more of the same from his government, but he did introduce two new modest spending items aimed at the manufacturing sector.

Harper said a re-elected Conservative government would abolish tariffs on imports of equipment for manufacturers and expand the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative and Automotive Innovation Fund budgets by $200 million each over four years. Harper said abolishing the tariffs on manufacturing equipment would save Canadian industry $350 million a year.

"The plan on which we've been acting is the plan," Harper said. "As the saying goes, it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark, which is why when the rain came he didn't panic and he didn't need to switch boats."

Harper pledged to stay the course by lowering taxes, lowering the national debt, and committed his government to "prudent, effective spending, focused on results."

Harper criticized his election rivals for making promises that he said would necessitate raising taxes and running deficits.

"Prudent leadership does not set strategy for the nightly news," he said. "The strengths of a plan are advanced preparation and strength of execution."

By Sean McKibbon, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Sarah Sussman, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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