Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak to the strength of the Canadian economy. We all recognize that Canada is not an island. Challenges from abroad will impact our economy, but we are well positioned to weather global economic uncertainty. Our economic fundamentals remain strong.
As of June 2008, the OECD economic outlook reported:
Canada has entered the current period of weakening global growth from an enviable position.
Indeed, our labour market remains strong. We are still recording job growth, wages are still rising, and a record number of Canadians are in the job market. Indeed, while the United States lost nearly 50,000 net jobs in May, Canada created over 8,000 net new jobs that month. In fact in Quebec alone, we see the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years.
According to Statistics Canada, in May employment rose by 18,000 in Quebec, with a big positive rebound in manufacturing jobs with gains, for instance, in the aerospace industry. Additionally, as the Montreal Gazette recently noted, Quebec is benefiting more than many would think from the same resource boom that has impacted western Canada. It said:
With a forecast $10.8 billion in output this year, Quebec's mining industry is...growing like blazes, helping to spur still more billions in new investment.
Little wonder we now hear continual talk of job shortages and the need for more skilled workers from the province. For instance, just earlier this year Quebec launched an initiative to fill the huge gap in the province's labour shortage caused by an aging workforce. Indeed, some estimates suggest almost 700,000 jobs will need to be filled by 2011 to address this situation.
One of the most striking examples of the extent of Quebec's labour shortage, as referenced in a March 2008 Globe and Mail article, can be found in the community of Baie-Comeau where:
--as many as 600 of the 1,500 workers at the Alcoa aluminum smelter will retire in the next five years.
In the words of Quebec Premier Jean Charest:
These jobs pay on average $60,000 a year. They are good jobs. But you know what? They have a problem in Baie Comeau. Alcoa has a challenge.
To help address that challenge, the Government of Canada is at the table with tangible and constructive measures to support worker retraining and helping communities take advantage of the economic opportunities of tomorrow.
Two of those very positive measures that our government has introduced in that respect are the $1 billion community development trust, which supports communities and workers, and the targeted initiative for older workers, which budget 2008 extended with an additional $90 million in support.