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Winning sectors: health services, construction

The big loser: manufacturing

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When Canada’s economy contracted in the early 1980s and early 1990s the governing federal parties had been in power for many years. When elections were finally called in 1984 and 1993, the country was recovering economically but fatigue with incumbents was still strong.

That in part is why the Liberals (in 1984) and Conservatives (in 1993) suffered such blowout losses.

The governing Conservatives must today deal with the same issue of voter fatigue. But as Friday’s national employment numbers suggest, the economic backdrop is much different. Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced the 2008-09 recession in just his third year in office (though a coalition of opposition parties very nearly cut his term short). And much of the damage was caused by a financial crisis whose origins lay outside Canada’s borders.