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OTTAWA — Do as we say now, not as we said then.

The federal government has abruptly, and very publicly, changed its message on global recession fighting.

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Prize-winning economists say policy blunders have pushed Europe into a depression that will put Japan’s Lost Decade in the shade





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Instead of insisting other countries put debt-reduction ahead of stimulus spending — Ottawa’s post-recession mantra — Finance Minister Joe Oliver has altered course, urging G20 nations — in the particular, those in the eurozone currency group — to open their fiscal taps to help restart the global recovery.

For now, and for many industrialized nations, deficit reduction will remain a work in progress.

That was the line G20 finance ministers took during their meeting last week in Cairns, Australia, and which Mr. Oliver heartedly endorsed in talks with Canadian reporters.

Gone is the scolding tone of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his previous finance chief, the late Jim Flaherty, who urged other governments to pay down their debt before adding to it through huge fiscal measures that could only delay the inevitable pre-recovery pain.