After pledging more than $3-billion to rescue the auto sector, the Harper government is now poised to offer similar aid to the struggling mining and forestry industries in next month's budget.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said Sunday on CTV's Question Period that a number of industries are “under distress” and “other industrial sectors, other extraction sectors are on the table for our budget coming out on January 27th.”

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell called on the Harper government to give “comparable support” to the forestry industry if it subsidizes auto manufacturers in central Canada.

There was no mention of support for resource industries in the Harper government's recent Throne Speech or in its fiscal update last month. It was that update that provoked so much criticism for its lack of a stimulus package that it led to the creation of the opposition coalition and almost cost Stephen Harper his minority government.

In the Throne Speech, the Conservative government had pledged relief for automotive and aerospace sectors but nothing was proposed for the fisheries, mining and forestry industries.

NDP Leader Jack Layton credited the creation of the coalition between his party and the Liberals that is supported by the Bloc Québécois with forcing the government to act swiftly.

“It looks like the government's finally changing direction,” Mr. Layton said on Question Period. “We've been saying for quite a number of months and during the election that we've needed strategies for these key sectors that were in trouble, and I think the Prime Minister was either in denial or just ideologically felt governments shouldn't be helping out.”

“I think the parliamentary crisis has caused the government and all of its ministers to have to rethink,” he said.

Mr. Clement would not provide a specific figure for the auto-industry support, but it's estimated to be about $3.4-billion, based on the minister's commitment to provide a package representing Canada's one-fifth share of the Detroit Three's North American vehicle production and on Canada maintaining that percentage.

The United States is considering a $14-billion (U.S.) rescue plan.

On Sunday, Mr. Clement said the unique circumstances of the integrated auto industry forced the Harper government to act immediately.

“This was an announcement that had to be done soon because of events in Congress, when it came to the auto sector,” he said. “The auto sector is one where clearly the U.S. Congress was seized of the issue,” he said. “They understood that it had broader implications, that there was a collapse in the confidence as a result of the auto sector collapsing.”

Last week, a bailout proposal failed in the U.S. Senate, prompting the White House on Friday to say it would consider giving emergency aid to auto makers. But yesterday, White House officials said it did not expect to make an announcement by today while President George W. Bush – who made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday – was out of the country.

Still, Mr. Clement said he is “optimistic” that the U.S. will finalize its package this week. He said he expects “over the next few days the U.S. administration to cross some t's and dot some i's.”

“The Bush administration has made it pretty clear that they think that a rescue is necessary to save the entire industry, to keep the economy from going further into troubled waters in the United States.”

Mr. Clement did not say when the details of the Canadian package will be revealed.

He said the Harper government is “engaged very much with senior officials both in the incoming administration [president-elect Barack Obama is to take over next month] and the outgoing administration.”