OTTAWA - Canada's wobbly economy will likely be the dominant issue when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with the premiers for his annual first ministers' gathering this Fall.

"It's a safe assumption that the economy will be one of the topics on the agenda," said Kory Teneycke, Harper's director of communications.

Teneycke said the government is a long way from setting a date or a formal agenda, but the meeting is unlikely to be a throwback to formal, public meetings around a large table with the prime minister pounding a gavel to open and close the encounter.

"That's not the approach we've taken in the past," said Teneycke.

The provincial and territorial premiers made their concerns about Canada's economy known at the first ministers meeting this past week in Quebec. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney joined the gathering to offer his optimistic message of a 'robust' economy, but the premiers' message reflected a less sanguine view.

"We've been seized with a sense of real urgency when it comes to the economy," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, whose province has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the last few years.

Earlier this month, Statistics Canada reported the unemployment rate was up to 6.2 per cent-but still among the lowest in 30 years.

And with the TSX plunging more than 400 points on Tuesday, instability in the economy is still weighing heavily on Canadians' minds.

Recent polls from Harris-Decima for The Canadian Press make it clear the economy has become the number one priority for voters. Those polls also show Conservatives consistently win favour with the electorate for their economic helmsmanship.

But while the resource-based economies of the West boom, Ontario and Quebec's manufacturing sectors are getting hammered by a stumbling U.S. economy, high dollar and high oil prices - and those are the provinces where Harper has to find votes if he's going to win the next election.

In that past, the prime minister has taken a more low-key approach to his meetings with premiers, preferring to meet with the leaders over brief and relatively tranquil dinners at 24 Sussex Drive.

Federalism, for Harper, has meant allowing the provinces to use their considerable powers under the Constitution to govern themselves with a minimum of interference from Ottawa. And, overall, the Conservative leader's preference has been to seal one-off deals with the provinces, demonstrated in the case of controversial changes to the much-coveted Atlantic Accord.

Last October, Harper made an arrangement with Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald allowing the province to keep its resource royalties amid disputes over equalization entitlements.

Similarly, Harper and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell signed $2.2-billion deal to go towards the province's infrastructure over seven years.

As a result of the prime minister's avoidance of these group meetings, provinces have decided to make deals among themselves, including the climate change agreement struck by Ontario and Quebec in June.

Last week's meeting produced an agreement by the country's premiers on labour mobility in an attempt to make it easier for Canadians to work anywhere in the country beginning next year.

"We are building upon the great success of bilateral and trade agreements internally in Canada over the last number of years," said Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

Aboriginal issues will also likely appear on the agenda at the Fall summit, but Harper has made it clear that he has no interest in resurrecting the Kelowna Accord, negotiated by his Liberal predecessor, Paul Martin.

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