Thank you very much.
Mr. Hodgson, you seem to be calling for a growth agenda that is consistent with the consensus that emerged from the G-20 finance ministers meeting in Cairns recently. The Australian treasurer said, “It is critical that we take concrete steps globally to boost growth and create jobs”.
Compared to economies like the U.S., Australia, and the U.K., we're growing more slowly as an economy than those countries. Yet Australia and the U.K. are investing massively in infrastructure: the federal government in Australia, the national government, working with state governments, working with Canadian pension funds.
With probably the greatest concentration of expertise in the design, construction, and financing of infrastructure in the world resident here in Canada, should we build a more robust national infrastructure plan today as David Dodge would counsel us, by working with the provinces to invest massively in fixing our infrastructure? We would create jobs in the short term and better competitiveness in the long term.