Madam Speaker, unfortunately there is not enough time in this session to address all of the claims that the member has raised, but I do want to tackle some of the issues that I feel are very critical. Those are around job creation, what is happening in Alberta, and how we are standing up for Canadian jobs on this side of the House.
Last year alone, Canada added more than 420,000 jobs, most of them full-time jobs and many of them in our resource sector, including in Canada's oil patch and including those linked to our approval of the Line 3 pipeline.
In fact, the job gains posted in Alberta are some of the most significant that have occurred in any province in the country. According to Statistics Canada, Alberta added 55,000 new positions last year, and its economic output is again leading the country on a per capita basis.
As one University of Calgary professor told The Canadian Press earlier this year, Alberta's economy is recovering faster than almost anyone could have ever expected.
What is the result? Let me review.
Canada's unemployment rate is hovering at a 40-year low, and last year our 3% growth led all G7 countries.
Now, that does not mean that there is not still more work to be done, which is why we are getting the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline built. It is at the top of our list, as has been reconfirmed and reiterated time and again by the Prime Minister.
We have determined that the $7.4 billion project is in Canada's national interest because of the jobs it will create right across the country, and also because of the greater access it will provide to global markets for Canadian businesses. It is also because of the increased revenues it will generate for all levels of government within the country and because of the new economic opportunities it will offer for the 43 indigenous communities that have signed benefit agreements up and down the pipeline's route.
All of these benefits will come at the same time that we are making the largest-ever single investment to protect Canada's oceans and coastal communities, strengthening the eyes and ears of the Canadian Coast Guard to ensure better communication with vessels, adding new radar sites in strategic locations, and putting more enforcement officers on the coast.
It also means enhancing our response capabilities, protecting whales and other marine life, and building meaningful partnership with indigenous peoples.
We know that economic prosperity and the environmental protection that we are so proud of can go hand in hand in this country. That is why the Prime Minister repeated this past Sunday that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is of vital strategic interest to Canada. That is why he instructed the Minister of Finance to initiate formal financial discussions with the pipeline proponent. That is why we are pursuing legislative options to exert the Government of Canada's clear jurisdiction over this project to see it proceed.
As the Prime Minister has said, this pipeline will be built. I can assure the member that it will be built.