Let me go first.
I think, first of all, the half percentage point cut we saw in the Bank of Canada rate yesterday was probably a good indication of looking ahead and thinking, things don't look too good. Four or five months from now, demand in the U.S. economy is expected to be very weak, and our key export markets are already in recession.
But I'll respond to your question and build on the previous question. There are new opportunities in western Canada for manufacturers in Quebec, Ontario, and across the country to take advantage of the development of energy resources and infrastructure spending in western Canada and in energy markets in the United States. There are new markets. The global economy, even with the downturn in the U.S., is growing by six Canadas a year. There are a lot of business opportunities. But in order to take advantage of those opportunities, companies have to invest in new products, in market development capabilities, in new skills, and so forth.
When we're looking at targeted investment measures, or targeted measures to assist here, I think we need to change the terms of the debate. We shouldn't be subsidizing companies. What we should be doing is looking at those measures that encourage investment in some very significant areas, like productive assets. There's a difference between store shelving and equipment. Store shelving is an asset that actually gets better CCA treatment than equipment, without the two-year writeoff. Equipment produces things. Manufacturing technologies produce things of greater value; they should be more important than other assets.
Skills development is an important investment. Innovation is an important investment. Wherever companies are selling, whether it's in the United States, in other markets, or in western Canada, they're going to be successful because they're specialized and because they're innovative. These are the key investments that we should be making in order to assist those companies make the adjustments they have to make, because the business world is very different today. I think that's where we really should be focusing our measures.
If you want specifics, apart from the ones that we've been giving, consider investments in research establishments that focus on transferring research to industrial applications. Industrial innovation is important. Manufacturers bring 80% of the new products to market. We invest billions of dollars in the research. Why don't we assist in connecting that research to the industrial applications, the solutions, that businesses are trying to bring to the market? Without those linkages, it's very easy, frankly, for the Americans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Europeans to step in.