Harper talks to ABC News, Obama talks to Harper and Flaherty talks to everyone else.

• ABC News. Interview with Canadian PM Stephen Harper. “Well, I think obviously we have a general concern, as you know. One of the things that we absolutely must do in this recession is to make sure that we don’t start cutting trade and we don’t see a rise in protectionism across the world.”
• National Post. ‘Buy American’ won’t endanger Canadian trade: Obama. “U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday downplayed the threat to Canadians posed by Buy American policies while rejecting the notion that Canada should be seen as a health-care ‘bogeyman.’”
• The Globe and Mail. Krugman says world avoided second Great Depression. “Aggressive stimulus spending by governments helped the world avoid a second Great Depression but full economic recovery will take two years or more, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said Monday.”
• The Globe and Mail. Five signs a housing recovery is on the way. “Despite July’s slight slip in housing starts, economists point out plenty of reasons for optimism.”
• Canadian Mortgage Professionals. CMHC says mortgage rates to remain stable. “CMHC in their second quarter Housing Market Outlook says that Mortgage Rates are expected to remain with 25 to 75 basis points of their current level for the remainder of 2009, keeping them very low in a historical context.”
• Reuters. Bay Street – Investors take a shine to Canadian small caps. “Canadian investors are pumping money into small cap companies that they normally shun in uncertain times, enticed into riskier assets by signs the economy is stabilizing and by bargain prices.”
• Reuters. Canada June bankruptcies surge as job losses kick in. “Canadian bankruptcies rose 51.6 percent in June compared to a year earlier as more consumers were unable to pay debts, but business bankruptcies rose only modestly despite the recession, a government report showed.”
• Toronto Star. Moving up in the world as rivals fall. “Canada is expected climb the rankings of international economic performance this year and next because the global recession will exact a deeper toll on other industrialized countries, says a report by the Conference Board of Canada.”
• Bloomberg. Canadian currency depreciates on government concern, job losses. “Canada’s currency posted its first weekly decline in a month after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty voiced concern about its “rapid” appreciation and job losses in July were almost triple what economists forecast.”
• Bloomberg. Canada June factory sales unexpectedly gain on aerospace, oil. “Canadian factory sales unexpectedly rose in June, as output at aerospace companies jumped and petroleum and coal prices advanced.”
• Canada.com. Canada’s trade deficit sliced by rising energy exports. “Energy exports helped shrink Canada’s trade deficit with the world more than expected in June, to $55 million from a revised $1.1 billion in May, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.”
• Infectious Greed. Steinhardt: No-one is bullish long term. “The hedge fund panel on CNBC was awfully good, especially Michael Steinhardt’s contrarianism and exchanges with Leon Cooperman. The idea that no-one is long-term bullish is so important.”
• The Wall Street Journal. IMF eyes future of China’s export jobs. “In a new pair of working papers for the International Monetary Fund, Kai Guo and Papa N’Diaye tackle two of the biggest questions for China’s economic future: what will happen to the export manufacturing base that has driven so much of its recent growth? And what other options are there to create more new jobs for poor farmers eager to better their lot?”
• The Huffington Post. Capture the recession: Everything on sale (slideshow). “Tough times can inspire lasting images, and the HuffPost’s Eyes & Ears is compiling a photo album of our readers’ most evocative recession pictures.”
• Four Pillars. Calculating the true cost of your vacations. “Everyone loves a nice vacation – whether it involves driving a short distance to visit family for a couple of days or flying to the other side of the globe to go snowboarding. The big problem with vacations however is the cost – most of us have budgets that are limited in some way and we want to get the best value for our vacation dollar.”

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P.S. I’ve changed my vacation plans; I’m heading out this afternoon. Please check back in on Aug. 26.