Industry Minister James Moore boasted to a national television audience at the Conservative Convention in Calgary last weekend that Canada under the Harper government has created more jobs than any other G8 nation. This "we're top-of-the-heap" claim about the Canadian economy was picked up by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his Friday night address to delegates."Canada is being lifted by a steadily rising tide: Our strong finances, our stable politics, our expanding network of trade relationships...These assets are now aligned presenting a unique moment of national opportunity. Our Conservative government will not miss this tide. We will seize this moment to ensure prosperity for Canadians today and for generations to come....."Canada now has one of the best run advanced economies with some of the best prospects in the entire world. That is our record..."Canada leads the G7 in job creation. Canada leads the G7 on the strength of our balance sheet. Canada leads the G7 in political stability...."Well, no."When It Comes to Competitiveness, Canada Can't Compete",**ran**a headline in the Sept. 4, 2013 issue of The Globe and Mail. "Switzerland and Singapore top the list of the most competitive countries in the world in a global ranking that puts Canada in a distant 14^th position," the paper continued. "Finland, Germany and the U.S. round out the top five of this year's most competitive nations on the World Economic Forum's annual list...Canada's ranking was the same as last year. Back in 2009, Canada sat in ninth position."The article went on to acknowledge that Canada fares well in education, efficient financial and labour markets and its strong institutions. But a number of factors keep it out of the top 10 nations, including poor performances in innovation and business sophistication, where Canada has tumbled to 25^th in rankings.The Conference Board's Michael Bloom told Globe business writer Tavia Grant that overall, Canada's competitive position has stagnated. "A closer look at the results shows that we are getting worse on several factors that do not bode well for our economic and social wellbeing," he said."When it comes to business innovation, Canada is seriously underperforming. It actually fell four places in factors related to innovation and business sophistication, and that's a real concern."More ominously still, the Conference Board continued, "No other country has dropped more in the competitiveness sub-index category."The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had an equally gloomy take on Canada's economy and economic prospects. At the end of July, /The Huffington Post/ reported the Harper government had claimed in 2011 that Canada was the first G7 country to recover all the jobs lost in the Great Recession.But, it continued, "a new analysis of OECD data finds that Canada has fallen behind a majority of developed countries when it comes to job creation since the recession, and, when adjusted for population growth, the government has fewer jobs today than it did before the downturn."//The analysis, conducted by Unifor economist Jim Stanford, found that Canada's job creation record isn't keeping pace with its population growth. "Canada's employment rate was at 72.2 per cent in 2012, down from its peak of 73.6 per cent in 2008."Our working age population has grown by 1.75 million since 2008, so its hardly an accomplishment to get back to the same total absolute number of jobs (or even higher) when there are 1.75 million more Canadians capable of working," Stanford continued.In 2012, Canada's employment rate was just 72.2 per cent. That ranks Canada 20^th out of 34 OECD countries. Even debt-ridden, insolvency-threatened Italy is doing better, Stanford found.More ominous for Canada than the stagnating employment rate is the fact the country has seen its manufacturing base steadily shrivel ever since the onset of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1989.Smaller urban centres have been particularly hard hit. The Conference Board reports that nearly half of Canada's mid-sized cities -- 21 of 46 -- have not recovered the jobs they lost during the recession, and that's not even adjusting for population growth.The Harper government's determination to make Canada into a resource superpower through tar sands oil exports is fast turning Canada from a First World economy to a Third World hewers of wood and drawers of water economy.The World Economic Forum also has some bad news for Canada, pegging its competitive advantage ranking at only 52^nd among 148 countries.Canada was nowhere to be found among the top 10 globally competitive nations.These are, in descending order: Switzerland, Singapore, Finland, Germany, U.S., Sweden, Hong Kong SAR, Netherlands, Japan and the United Kingdom.Frances Russell was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science. A journalist since 1962, she has covered and commented on politics in Manitoba, Ontario, B.C. and Ottawa, working for The Winnipeg Tribune, United Press International, The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun and The Winnipeg Free Press as well as freelanced for The Toronto Star, The Edmonton Journal, CBC Radio and TV and Time Magazine.She is the author of two award-winning books on Manitoba history: Mistehay Sakahegan – The Great Lake: The Beauty and the Treachery of Lake Winnipeg and The Canadian Crucible – Manitoba's Role in Canada's Great Divide. Both won the Manitoba Historical Society Award for popular history.She is married with one son and two grandsons and lives in Winnipeg.