In a 30-minute interview with CBC's Peter Mansbridge, Stephen Harper spoke about Afghanistan, Canada's economic situation and controversy over his remark that the arts are a niche issue. (CBC)In a one-on-one interview Tuesday afternoon with CBC's Peter Mansbridge, Harper accused the opposition parties of wanting him to "radically increase the size of the budget and increase taxes."

"This prime minister isn't going to panic and he isn't going to be pressured into doing something stupid just for the sake of proving that we're doing something."

The Conservative leader stressed that Canada is not in the same financial straits as other countries.

"What most of the leaders around the world are dealing with right now are not drops in the stock market," the Conservative leader said.

"Everybody has a drop in the stock market right now," he said. "Most of them are dealing with fundamental instability in their banking system, which we are not."

Harper said his government has been aware of the fiscal difficulties ahead since August 2007 and has been putting a plan in place to deal with it — keeping budgets balanced, getting taxes down and making sure the government spends money in a way that creates jobs of the future. More...