Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to this private member's bill. I want to thank my colleague, the member for Chatham-Kent—Essex, for his comments. I will be repeating some of the very important points that he pointed out in his speech.
Like many other Canadians, I feel very strongly about being able to have a safe, secure retirement. That is one of the reasons I am particularly pleased about our government's strong economic record. As we know, a secure retirement is directly connected to a stable economy. After all, there is no retirement if there is no job. That is one of the many reasons that our government has made creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity our top priority.
Despite obstruction attempts from the opposition across the way, we have been steadfast in our economic commitment, and Canada is benefiting. One week ago today, Statistics Canada announced that the Canadian economy grew by 2.7% in the third quarter. This is the ninth consecutive quarter of economic growth in Canada. This is especially noteworthy when we consider the delicate global economic environment in which that was achieved. While many other economies around the world are faltering, one simply cannot argue with the success of nine consecutive quarters of economic growth.
However, this is not the first economic accomplishment under our government's stewardship. Canada has created over a million net new jobs since the depths of the recession in 2009. More importantly, nearly 90% of these new jobs are full-time and over 80% are in the private sector. This is the strongest job creation record in the G7. The International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development both project that Canada will have some of the strongest growth in the G7 in the years ahead. These organizations are expressing steadfast confidence in our government because they know we are steadfast in our commitment to the economic action plan.
Economic action plan 2013 is continuing to support job creation and helping our economy grow. It includes helping small business by extending the small business hiring credit; helping manufacturers with tax relief when they make new investments in machinery and equipment; and supporting persons with disabilities, aboriginal people, youth and newcomers, with new training investments to help them secure employment.
We are proud about creating a pro-growth environment while keeping taxes low. Canada continues to have the lowest overall tax rate on new—