OTTAWA—Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and other premiers are criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper for passing up a chance to co-operate on a national economic strategy with provincial leaders this week.

“I think we’re all disappointed that we couldn’t get an opportunity to meet with the prime minister and to build a strong plan for economic growth together,” McGuinty said in Toronto on Tuesday.

“We will do our very best,” he said of the premiers’ meeting. “We’ll see what it is we might be able to do by way of a concerted effort.”

Provincial premiers and territorial leaders gather in Halifax on Thursday and Friday at a time when the struggling economy is threatened by deteriorating business conditions in Europe and a potential U.S. economic meltdown.

But Harper’s office confirmed Tuesday he won’t accept the premiers’ invitation to attend.

McGuinty suggested Harper is missing an opportunity to follow up on a deal reached during the last recession in which federal and provincial governments agreed to invest in economic stimulus.

“We’ve now entered into a period of prolonged slow growth and I think we could do better by developing some broader policies, acting in concert with the federal government, whether that’s by way of stimulus or, I think, particularly investing in innovation and higher levels of skills and education would be very helpful to all of us.”

Harper consistently says the economy is his top priority. In response to the 2008-09 recession, the Conservatives spent $47 billion to prop up the economy — often through infrastructure projects with the provinces.

But Ottawa has now switched gears and is focusing on reducing its $26-billion deficit despite the iffy state of the economy. Next year’s growth is expected to be a mediocre 2 per cent.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will provide the premiers with a closed-door economic update.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, host of the Halifax meeting, has also said it’s too bad Harper won’t work with the premiers.

“It’s unfortunate that Harper can’t attend,” Jennifer Stewart, a spokeswoman for Dexter, said Tuesday. “But Mr. Dexter has said the premiers don’t see this as the end of the road. It’s being extended (to Harper) as an open-ended invitation.”

Dexter has said the premiers didn’t intend to gang up on the Prime Minister. It’s believed Harper dodges these meetings to avoid being bombarded with provincial demands. “They didn’t intend for this meeting to be anything like that,” Stewart explained Tuesday.

Opposition MPs scoffed at the government explanation that Harper meets regularly with premiers on a one-to-one basis.

“At a time when the economy is showing signs of weakness, Harper needs to be at this week’s meeting discussing remedies with the premiers,” federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said.

“We’re not talking about how many phone calls he’s made to premiers for a two-minute chat. We’re talking about constructive engagement with the provinces at a time that is still very sensitive economically,” Mulcair said in the House of Commons foyer.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae, a former Ontario premier, questioned how Harper can travel the world yet refuse to travel to the Maritimes to meet with the premiers.

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“It’s shocking to me, shocking, that the prime minister of Canada cannot find it in himself to sit down with the premiers when they have a conference on the economy,” Rae said Tuesday.

With files from Bruce Campion-Smith

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