Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for this opportunity to chat. I was glad to hear your comments recognizing that the spring economic statement spoke to the fact that Canada is resilient. That's an excellent comment.
I'd like to come back to the questions raised by my colleague a moment ago, when he spoke about the Global Infrastructure Investor Association's recent poll, which places Canada at the top of the list—in fact surpassing Germany, and surpassing the United States for the first time. That's pretty remarkable. In the report, the association highlights Canada's nation-building program and the government's announcement of a new sovereign wealth fund. I spoke in the House recently on this particular topic, the opportunity for Canadians to be all in and support Canada. The wealth fund will partly be used to co-fund infrastructure projects alongside private sector partners.
We must remember that we're one year into the mandate of this new government. As we speak, sometimes I sense the impatience, but it does take time, as there is a natural evolution to all of these various initiatives.
I do want to point out that today the Prime Minister is in New York. He said yesterday that he would be there for exactly that particular reason, meeting with the business community and for investment purposes. I was impressed in recent weeks when Shell announced the $22-billion purchase of ARC Resources. Yesterday, in my own riding, the International Tactical Training Centre announced the purchase of six advanced jet trainers.
I find there's a lot of evidence of support and interest in Canada from an investor's perspective. This fall we will be holding a very large investment summit, the first ever.
I'm interested in your thoughts. I know you've touched on it, but I think it is worthy of further elaboration. It's such an important development for our country, and so many parts of the world are paying attention to Canada and the opportunities here. I think, when we talk about expenditures and so on, this has to be an important element in that discussion. I'd like your thoughts, please.