Mr. Chair, today I will be talking about our government's economic action plan, a low-tax plan to create jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for all Canadians.
First, let me remind the committee why Canada needs an economic action plan.
Not too long ago the world was hit by an economic downturn of such magnitude that scholars called it “the great recession”, our worst economic threat since World War II. History judges us during moments of crisis, and history will smile on the way Canada tackled that threat.
We protected jobs and families. We made difficult decisions. We ran deficits to stimulate the economy. Now, we are working hard to return to balanced budgets.
The facts are clear; our plan is working. Canada, today, has never been stronger. There is bountiful evidence of our country's growing prosperity.
We have created more than one million new jobs since July 2009: over 85% full time; over 80% in the private sector. The IMF and the OECD expect Canada will be among the strongest-growing economies in the G7 over this year and next.
We continue to receive a AAA credit rating from all the major rating agencies. More than this, we are building the most prosperous middle class in the industrialized world.
A recent New York Times study found that after-tax middle-class incomes in Canada, which were substantially behind in the year 2000, now appear to be higher than in the United States.
Today, Canada is stronger and more prosperous than ever before. Leadership made this possible, the leadership of the Prime Minister who set out the road map to prosperity and continues making the tough decisions needed in our uncertain world, and my predecessor, the late Hon. Jim Flaherty, a great Canadian, whom we all miss.
The global outlook remains uncertain. Our economy has been hampered by weak export markets and lower commodity prices. Global growth is still at risk. Many of our allies are deeply in debt. Industrialized countries continue to post deficits. While new economic giants are emerging, the list of our competitors is growing. That is why we cannot become complacent. We will have to continue on the path set out by the Conservative government if we want to ensure that Canada is prosperous.
This path, our economic action plan, depends on five key pillars.
Prosperity begins with our first pillar: low taxes. Low taxes create a climate for businesses to grow. Businesses create jobs and growing businesses create more jobs. That is why our government cut more than $60 billion in taxes for job-creating businesses between 2008 and 2014. KPMG has concluded that Canada's total business tax costs are now the lowest in the G7, more than 40% lower than in the United States. Bloomberg now ranks us as the second most attractive destination for business in the entire world.
Besides businesses, we are putting more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians. Since 2006, we have cut taxes almost 180 times. We reject opposition demands for a job-killing carbon tax. We reduced the federal tax burden to its lowest level in over 50 years. For an average family of four, taxes have been cut by close to $3,400.
However, this is not good enough. Like the Liberals and the NDP, we believe Canadians still do not keep enough of what they earn. With the Liberals and the NDP, Canadians can expect more spending and more taxes. The Conservative Party is the only party Canadians can trust to lower taxes. We have done it 180 times before and we will do it again when we achieve a balanced budget. Low taxes in business costs have helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs, but we are Conservatives. We always aim to do better.
Too many Canadians are still unemployed at a time when we are once again starting to see skills and labour shortages in some sectors and some regions. That is why the second pillar of our economic action plan supports the development of a skilled and productive workforce.
The centrepiece of this pillar is our Canada job grant. Through this program, federal funding will respond to the hiring needs of employers and will give them the opportunity to partner in skills training. While the opposition spends its time demanding temporary foreign workers for their favourite restaurants, we spend our time ensuring Canadians find jobs.
The third pillar of the economic action plan is expanding markets. I cannot overstate how central this is to Canada's prosperity. In 2013 alone, Canada exported more than $559 billion in goods and services, and that is over $16,000 for every Canadian. Since 2007, we have reached free trade and investment agreements with 30 countries, and we are negotiating many more. In 2012, Canada joined the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. In March, we concluded negotiations for a free trade deal with the Republic of Korea, Canada's first in Asia.
However, the real game changer is our agreement in principle toward a comprehensive economic and trade agreement with the European Union. This is the most comprehensive free trade agreement in the history of our nation, more ambitious than NAFTA itself. The EU market, with 500 million affluent people and annual economic activity of over $17 trillion, holds a continent of opportunities for Canadians.
The joint Canada-EU study suggests CETA would boost Canada's income by $12 billion annually. Bilateral trade could increase by 20%, the equivalent of offering the average Canadian family a pay raise of $1,000.
While the NDP wastes time debating whether it supports trade, our Conservative government is getting the job done.
It is essential that we create new opportunities for Canada's natural resources sector. Natural resource projects with a total value of $650 billion will be under way or planned over the next 10 years.
The fourth pillar of the economic action plan aims to make Canada a 21st-century natural resources superpower. We are planning major new initiatives to improve safety and emergency planning, as well as to enshrine the polluter pay principle in legislation.
The fifth pillar of our plan would make Canada a global innovation leader. Since 2006, we have made new investments of over $11 billion to support innovation in every way possible, from basic and applied research to infrastructure and commercialization.
In economic action plan 2014, we propose new support for research and innovation totalling $1.6 billion over the next five years. This represents the largest annual increase in research support through the granting councils in over a decade.
These five pillars form our economic action plan. It is our Conservative way forward for Canada's economy, the only way to keep taxes low and create jobs from coast to coast to coast.
I look forward to any questions.
