Mr. Speaker, it appears that the hon. member for Carleton is as excited as we are to read the fall economic statement. He will get the chance to do so, just as all Canadians will, on November 21.
As the member knows very well, the fall economic statement is under wraps until then, which begs the question as to why we are here today talking about something that we are not allowed to talk about. However, I welcome all opportunities to remind the House, the residents of Vaughan—Woodbridge and all Canadians of the work we are doing, because we are very proud of it. We are building a stronger Canada and a better Canada. That means communities across this great country are benefiting from our government's fiscal plan. Our fiscal plan is sustainable, as it meets our fiscal anchors and continues to reduce the federal debt-to-GDP ratio.
Nevertheless, the gloom-and-doom rhetoric of balancing budgets was the cornerstone of the former government, which tried to convince Canadians that austerity measures were the only way to economic growth. It simply is not so, and frankly, that plan and that rhetoric failed Canadians.
In fact, the work our government is doing is attracting praise from around the world. An Ipsos MORI poll of 18,000 residents from 25 countries released in July of last year found that Canada has the most positive influence globally. The IMF has hailed Canada as an economic model for the world, with IMF's managing director, Christine Lagarde, saying that the world needs more Canada. This year, an A.T. Kearney study came out saying that Canada was the second most attractive place to invest in this beautiful world we live in. That is because a strong economy is about people and inclusive growth, where economic growth and prosperity is shared by all people, and in our country by all Canadians.
From the beginning, this government has put people at the heart of its plan for economic growth. In fact, this week, while many of us were out in our constituencies, I had the chance to sit down with the CEO of leading auto parts company Martinrea. It is the third largest auto parts company in Canada and employs 511 folks at a wonderful facility in my riding. The CEO commented about how great our economic plan was working. He gave us praise on the recent end to negotiations on the new USMCA. Those are the types of conversations we have with folks and business leaders across this country regarding where our economy is going and how we are growing the economy, how we are strengthening the middle class and how we are ensuring that all Canadians have the skills to succeed.
We arrived committed to helping Canadians who work hard to reap the benefits of a strong, fast-growing economy, and that is exactly what we did.
That is why the government's first action was to ask Canadians who are part of the top 1% to pay a little bit more in order to reduce the tax burden on the middle class.
Thanks to this tax cut for the middle class, more than nine million Canadians can save more, make investments or buy what they need.
Furthermore, to help parents raise their children, the government introduced the Canada child benefit, a more generous non-taxable benefit targeted at the families who need it the most.
Thanks to the Canada child benefit, nine out of 10 families receive more money than under the previous system.
The system the Conservatives had in place was not fair and sent cheques to millionaires instead of helping the families who really needed it most.
This benefit lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. Thanks to the tax reduction and to measures such as the Canada child benefit, a typical family of four from the middle class now has about $2,000 more each year to raise their children, save for the future and contribute to economic growth, which benefits everyone. This money is changing the lives of these families by helping them, for example, provide healthy food to their children and buy them new winter boots.
Moreover, last year, at about the same time, the government introduced measures to help low-income workers, which led to the Canada workers benefit being introduced in budget 2018. This is a new and improved version, more generous and more accessible, of the working income tax benefit.
Starting in January 2019, the CWB will put more money in the pockets of low-income workers. It will also encourage more people to find jobs and keep them, while providing real assistance to more than 2 million Canadians who are working hard to join the middle class.
We are also taking important steps to help seniors. Retirement is meant to be the reward for a life of hard work, but for many Canadian seniors, especially women, it simply means financial hardship. We think this is unacceptable, which is why we are improving the guaranteed income supplement for low-income seniors, providing financial security and peace of mind for the most vulnerable seniors.
We also improved the Canada pension plan, or CPP, a historic measure if ever there was one. The improvements to the CPP, which will be phased in as of January 2019, will give Canadians more money in retirement, allowing them to worry less about their savings and spend more time with their families.
Because our government is working with the provinces and territories to improve the Canada pension plan and because we restored the old age security program eligibility to 65 years instead of 67, more Canadians will have better conditions in retirement and will be able to live these years in dignity.
Thanks to the 300,000 or so infrastructure projects approved since 2016, we are also building strong, resilient communities. Most of those infrastructure projects are already under way, creating more good, well-paid jobs for the middle class.
In addition, thanks to many of these economically beneficial measures, consumer confidence is virtually at an all-time high. With more money in their pockets, Canadian consumers have every reason to feel more confident about their financial situation. That is true for Canadians and for the businesses they run. Canadian companies' after-tax profits have almost doubled since 2015, which means that businesses and the Canadians running them have more resources available to invest and stimulate economic growth.
We recognize that small businesses are key drivers of the economy. Some 60% of all private sector jobs are in small businesses. That is why we lowered taxes for small businesses last year. Our government lowered the small business tax rate to 10% in January, and we will lower it again to 9% in January 2019. The combined federal, provincial and territorial average tax rate on small businesses will be 12.2%, by far the lowest rate in the G7.
The results of these measures speak for themselves. The Canadian economy is obviously strong and growing. In 2017, with a growth rate of 3%, Canada had the strongest economic growth in the G7, and we are on track to continue to have the highest growth rate this year and next.
On top of that, there are more good, well-paying jobs for Canadians. Over the past three years, Canadians have created over half a million full-time jobs, resulting in the lowest unemployment rate in the past 40 years. Canadians' salaries have increased. For the average worker in Canada, salaries have been rising faster than inflation. If current trends continue, 2018 could see the highest wage increases in nearly a decade.
Consumer confidence is high, and corporate profits are on the rise, which is paving the way for other investments that could lead to further job creation and more rewarding, well-paying jobs for Canadians.
We know that we cannot take Canada's economic strength for granted. This past year was a challenging one, especially with regard to the recent tax changes in the United States and concerns about what ongoing global trade disputes might mean for Canadian businesses.
As we all know, our government has worked hard with our global partners. We finalized the CETA agreement, which is working extremely well for Canada and for Europe. We have finalized and ratified the CPTPP, which will come into force at the end of the year. It is another thing that will benefit many Canadian businesses and enterprises, including farmers, from coast to coast to coast.
Unlike some folks, we actually came to a good agreement with the United States on a new, revised free trade agreement between us, the United States, and Mexico. The new USMCA will provide certainty to businesses across this country. As I sat down with the president and CEO of Martinrea, Rob Wildeboer, this week, in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge, his comments only reaffirmed that our actions are the right actions for the right agreement when it comes to the USMCA.
I also sat down with Unico, one of the largest agri-food processors in this country. Again, the feedback I received from its owners and management was that our government's economic path is the right one. It was great to hear that these businesses will continue to invest here in Canada and in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge.
Last summer the government heard from a number of business owners and business leaders that there was a strong interest in making investments, the kind that can position businesses for long-term growth and that can create good, well-paying jobs for Canadian workers.
We heard from many businesses that expressed relief when we announced our new trade deal with the United States and Mexico, because securing that deal really does help when it comes to being able to confidently invest for the future. We have removed uncertainty, and we know that for businesses, removing uncertainty is key to their success.
There is nothing new about Canada-U.S. co-operation. We have a longstanding and fruitful relationship that is the envy of the world. The links between our peoples, governments and economies have produced positive results for both countries for more than 150 years. We know that by working together and ensuring that all regions are truly open for business we can continue to get real results for people in the coming years. The agreement we recently reached with the United States and Mexico reaffirms the importance of our trade relationship with our North American neighbours.
We welcome this new modernized trade agreement, because we know it will help support good, well-paying middle-class jobs across this country. We know, as we have heard repeatedly in this House, and as I hear from Canadians and residents in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge, that people are working in this country. People are working, and they are working hard. The jobs are there.
The CFIB and others have estimated that there are over 500,000 job vacancies in this country. It goes to show that our government's record on the economy is a good record. It is a record we can be proud of. It is a record that will continue to ensure, very simply, that all Canadians understand that they have a government that is on their side and that they have a future that they and their families can be proud of and confident in.
We welcome this new, modernized trade agreement, because we know it will help support good, well-paying middle-class jobs right across this country. I wanted to say that again to reaffirm our commitment to good middle-class jobs across this country.
At the same time, we know that we need to do more to protect and maintain Canada's competitive advantage. One area where this has been made clear is in relation to gender equality. Canadian women are among the most educated in the world, yet they are less likely to participate in the labour market and are more likely to work part time.
This under-representation continues in positions of leadership, and businesses in Canada are overwhelmingly owned by men. It reflects a number of factors, including the fact that Canadian women often have greater demands in unpaid work, preventing them from pursuing opportunities to reach their full potential.
Our economy is not working to capacity when women who wish to participate cannot do so. I will say that the labour force participation rate for women in Canada is now at its highest level, and it has been climbing incrementally under our government. In successive actions we have undertaken, we have seen a real boost and real encouragement for women to enter the labour force. Frankly, we can be proud of that. We know that Canada does not succeed until all Canadians succeed, and that includes on the basis of gender equality.
I am proud to say that I have two daughters at home, two precocious young girls. I know that the things we are doing today will benefit them in the years to come. Frankly, I am proud to be part of a government that is putting gender equality at the forefront.
The evidence is clear. RBC Economics estimates that adding more women to the workforce could boost Canada's GDP by as much as 4%. Our economy is strengthened when women and girls have opportunities to contribute to and benefit equally from economic growth. The time is now to ensure that all Canadians, in particular women, are provided with an opportunity to succeed and lead. That is why our latest budget legislation is taking several actions to move Canada toward gender equity. This legislation provides help for new parents to care for their children during those critical early months through the new employment insurance parental sharing benefit, which provides an extra five weeks of benefits to encourage more equal sharing of child care responsibilities within the home and to allow more flexibility, especially for mothers, to go back to work earlier, if that is their choice, feeling reassured that their family has the support it needs.
We are also taking steps to address the gender gap in federally regulated workplaces by requiring equal pay for work of equal value. This is just common sense. It is very simple. People should be paid equal pay for equal work, if that is the term we wish to use, and we are on the right trajectory. We know that currently, women earn about 88.5 cents for every dollar a man earns, when we are looking at jobs that encompass the same duties. We need to close that gap, and we will through the legislation that is contained in the BIA that we on the finance committee are presently looking at. About 1.2 million employed Canadians will fall under the scope of this legislation.
My riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge is a very entrepreneurial riding. People are very successful. I know the issue that is important to them is the economy. In my humble opinion, as someone who worked in global financial services for 20 years, our government is doing the right things with respect to the economy. We are investing in Canadians. We are investing in Canada. We are making sure that Canadians have the skills they need to succeed in today's world and tomorrow's world. We are ensuring that our kids take advantage of STEM and have the literacy skills and the financial literacy skills to succeed.
We maintain that a strong economy is a result of a strong middle class, and our politics and results reflect that. Over the past three years, the government has invested in Canadians and the things that matter most to Canadians. These investments reflect a choice to reject the austerity policies of the past and to instead invest wisely in the middle class, growing the economy and, yes, helping those who wish to join the middle class. That is what we have done.
The investments our government is making are balanced by sound fiscal management. If we look at the fiscal reference tables and the OECD reports, Canada's fiscal position is in the top tier and will continue to improve, anchored by a commitment to a low and consistently declining net debt-to-GDP ratio that is the lowest in the G7.
Some of the measures we have introduced since coming to office have been nothing less than life-changing for hundreds of thousands of Canadian families. We will have more to come in the fall economic update on Wednesday.
I will say this. I chatted with a number of business leaders in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge last week, including those who oversee $4-billion or $5-billion companies, and we are on the right path. Our government has taken a number of actions to help grow the economy, but more so, we are allowing businesses to invest with confidence in the economy today and for the future. We are lowering the small business tax rate. We are doing a number of things to support businesses in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and across this beautiful country. Our trade deals are strengthening the middle class, creating good jobs, and improving our relations with our European, North American and Asian trading partners.
