Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about the state of our Canadian economy. Let me first state that the entrepreneurial spirit of Canadians will never dim. As someone who came to Canada to help build businesses, I know how thriving an economy this country can have. In 2014, newspapers around the world declared that the middle class in Canada had surpassed that of the United States.
Fast-forward to today and the median household income in Canada is thousands of dollars less in real dollars than in the United States. Even the poorest American states, like Alabama, now have a higher GDP than our richest provinces. Among Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., the Liberal government now oversees the highest household debt, the most unaffordable housing and the highest food price inflation in the entire G7.
There is no other country where my colleagues and I would rather live, work or start a business than in Canada. I know that. However, Parliament should not be a place where we sugar-coat uncomfortable facts or try to drive reality away with rhetoric. As a former small business owner, I was horrified to see the CFIB's most recent report. Fifty-five per cent of small business operators would not recommend starting a small business. According to that report, Canada is “in an entrepreneurial drought”.
Since 2024, more people have been shutting down small businesses than starting them. We all need to buy more locally, but we also need the economic conditions for local businesses to thrive. Canada is losing economic potential in industries of the future, such as AI, robotics and fintech. Canadians are founding new companies in these sectors, but they are founding them south of the border.
Statistics Canada shows that net emigration, those who are leaving Canada, just hit an all-time peak. Canadian emigrants are predominantly young professionals, with 67% aged 20 to 44.
According to the Leaders Fund, nearly half of Canadian founders or entrepreneurs who raised $1 million in 2024 were based in the United States, versus one-third who were based in Canada, including other nations. Nearly 70% of Canadian founders are starting companies elsewhere. A decade ago, 70% of Canadian founders were founding companies in Canada. Canadians with ambition are seeing their future horizons narrowed here at home.
With my time remaining, I ask my colleague this: Given the support for the Liberals' economic plan, by what year will these cross-border gaps in real income and net emigration shrink instead of grow?