Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to give an address to the National Press Club today at the luncheon, in which I revisited the extraordinary performance of the Canadian economy in the year 2000.
We are presenting a report on the health of the Canadian economy, on the growth in our trade. We now export 45% of what we produce in this country, of our GDP.
Last year we received extraordinary foreign direct investment of $92.3 billion, so Canada is really a land that attracts a lot of foreign direct capital and it is extremely good for our economy. Indeed, Canadians are now in a position to invest abroad and that is very good, because if we want to export our goods, if we want to export our technology and if we want to export our services, we have to invest abroad.
There was a time when trade led the global economy, that is, first we traded with a foreign country and after having traded with it for some years we would then invest in it. Instead of exporting to it we would start producing the goods in that country. Trade led the economy and investment followed. It is the other way around now, and it has been the other way around for the past 15 to 20 years.
If we want to maintain our export level and trade development we have to invest abroad because now it is investment that leads the international economy rather than trade.