Thank you.
Welcome to you all and thank you for your presentations.
I'll take a step back in terms of my comments this afternoon.
The OECD just raised our growth forecast for this year. I think it's 3.2%, so we'll be leading the G7 for a second quarter, and I'm going to use the term “which rocked”—I'll go back to my teenage years—a 4.5% annualized growth rate. The Canadian economy has generated nearly 400,000 new jobs, the majority of which are full-time. Our unemployment rate has fallen to a historical low and our participation rate has actually ticked up.
There are some really goods signs going on within our economy and it's great to report that, but we can never rest on our laurels. We always must work harder and we must work harder with our stakeholders.
I would like to say to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce that your members' message is loud, it's clear and we are listening. There is a consultation period. Many constituents and stakeholders in my riding, and the area I live in is York region, are entrepreneurs. I was once an entrepreneur in the sense that I was awarded an entrepreneurial award by the Honourable Grace McCarthy, a social credit cabinet minister in the late 1980s or the 1990s, so I hear you.
At the same time, tax fairness is something that we need to look at and issues of income sprinkling, not splitting but income sprinkling, and conversion of dividends to capital gains need to be looked at. We also need to ensure that there are no unintended consequences on things like capital formation and that small businesses continue to thrive, much like they're thriving today. I'll leave it at that.
Amazon—that's the airport guys—has stated that they will put a second headquarters somewhere in North America, but they will need a proper and sufficient sized airport where they can move goods, services, and people. I can think of no better place than the Toronto area where myself and my colleague, Mr. Grewal, sit. What can we do to improve our airport services to ensure that we can attract investment such as the potential Amazon second site?
Thank you.