Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the member. It has been a long day in the House of Commons. Yes, I know Erin O'Toole was never the prime minister, but he was the leader of the Conservative Party. When Erin O'Toole was the leader of the Conservative Party back in the fall of 2021, when inflation was over 4%, he recommended a GST holiday in Canada to provide some tax relief to Canadians. That was bad timing. It was terrible timing, in fact, because inflation was going like this. It was 4.1% in the summer of 2022 and It went up to 8%. When inflation is on the rise, it is not a good time to do these types of measures. However, right now, inflation is on its way down.
This is good news for Canadians. We need to find ways to stimulate our economy and provide relief and affordability measures. That is why, over the last couple of years, through our economic measures and the hard work of Canadians, our policies have all reversed and reduced inflation in Canada faster than other countries have achieved that.
I had a meeting recently with somebody from Australia, and they were talking about how they have not seen an interest rate cut, and inflation is still quite high. Inflation is persistent in some places around the world, but our economy is recovering from the COVID economic downturn here in Canada. I want to credit Canadians with that. I want to acknowledge that a lot of our economic policies have created the terrain for that change, but this is really good. The inflation situation has abated a bit and that means it is a good time for this. This is a timely measure, supporting our economic recovery with a responsible affordability measure for everyone.
Our economy is actually recovering better than anticipated. Canada is in really good shape economically and fiscally. The Conservatives want to suggest everything is broken in Canada, but I will not tolerate that. Canada is the best country in the world to live in. It is a great country. We are strong. We are economically durable through these challenges. We endured the economic downturn of 2009 quite effectively, and we did this one too, and that is because of the hard work of Canadians, because we have a good regulated banking system and because we are used to challenges in Canada. When the snow falls, we get outside with our shovels and we shovel our neighbours' driveways. We do not sit around and complain and say everything is broken, because it is not.
All that work, the perseverance of Canadians, has paid off and we can afford nice things. We can afford to do nice things for Canadians right now because of the expediency with which our economic recovery has taken place. We have been through a lot over the last couple of years. I know the Conservatives want to heckle me and they want to suggest Canada is not in great shape, but I will not tolerate that. Canada is the best country in the world and Canada is in great shape because of the hard work of Canadians, not because of complainers, not because of people sitting in the back rows complaining, providing no solutions to anybody's problems but just barking, yelling and screaming about how everything is broken, because it is not. Canada is not broken. As well, we have the solutions.