Mr. Chair, we have been honest with Canadians. The short-term outlook for the global economy is not great. Financing conditions have tightened, and the negative economic impact of Vladimir Putin's illegal and unjust invasion of Ukraine continues to be felt.
Such moments present political leaders with a choice, and in this House, the choice and the contrast are clear: Conservatives believe it is in their political interest to tell Canadians that everything is broken and that they should give up hope. Their ideology tells them that government does not have any role to play in supporting Canadians through these tough times. Their political instincts tell them that they do not need concrete plans or solutions; they need only slogans and scary rhetoric. I have no doubt that today's debate will continue to be full of much of the same, yet on this side of the House, we take a different approach.
Our government believes in finding solutions to global problems. We believe that it is the government's role to help get Canadians through these tough economic times, and we believe in investing in our future and building the foundations for economic growth. Under the leadership of our government, Canadians will do together what they have always done when times are tough. They will pull together, look after each other and come out stronger. That is exactly what has been taking place.
Finally, as statistics show, there are now 907,000 more Canadian workers in the labour market than there were before the COVID-19 pandemic. More Canadians are working than ever before. Canada's unemployment rate is at 5%, near its lowest level in decades.
In just the first four months of 2023, our economy added nearly a quarter-million jobs. While inflation is still too high, and its impacts are still being felt by Canadians, we are seeing it slowly decline. It has gone from 8.1% last June down to 4.4% last month, and the Bank of Canada predicts that it will further decline to 3% this summer and just 2.5% by the end of the year. Canada's deficit is projected to be lower than it was last year, down to just 1.4% of the GDP. It will also continue to go down every year for the next five years.
We point out these basic facts, but the Conservatives, once again, revert to politics. Without an answer to these facts, they throw their hands up in the air and claim that we are saying that Canadians never had it so good. I am sure that messaging gets a lot of retweets, but they know that this is not what we are saying. What we are saying is this: With our plan, and thanks to the hard work of Canadians, we are going to emerge from these tough times better than ever.
With budget 2023, “A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future”, our government is proposing a number of measures to improve quality of life for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. For example, by providing a one-time grocery rebate for Canadians, we are helping about 11 million people and families who need it most. We are also proposing historic investments in our health care system to ensure that Canadians across the country have access to the care they deserve. We are putting forward many measures to develop a clean economy in Canada. In addition, budget 2023 will allow Canada to maintain the lowest deficit and net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.
We are reducing public spending by more than $15 billion, without cutting the direct services and supports on which Canadians rely. We are investing where we need to and maintaining the balance of fiscal prudence.
That is not all. To succeed in today's world, it is essential that Canada be able to cope with fundamental changes in the global economy, such as the most significant economic transformation since the industrial revolution: the transition to a green economy.
Our allies around the world are moving their productions and revising their supply chains to work with democracies, not dictatorships. These changes represent a unique opportunity for Canada and for Canadian workers, and our proposals in budget 2023 allow us to capitalize on those opportunities.
Countries around the world need the expertise of Canadian workers, the ingenuity of Canadian businesses and the resources that our country has in abundance. As always, Conservatives would rather keep their heads in the sand, but we understand that, as a country, we must meet this historic moment.
We must also keep in mind that the recent passage of the United States' Inflation Reduction Act poses a major challenge to many countries, including Canada. Without swift action, the sheer scale of U.S. incentives will undermine our ability to attract the investments needed to establish Canada as a leader in the growing and highly competitive global clean economy. If Canada does not keep pace, we will be left behind as the world's democracies build the clean economy of the 21st century. If Canada is left behind, an entire generation of Canadian workers will be left behind.
We are taking action. We are making transformative investments to build Canada's net-zero economy, fight climate change and create new opportunities for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers. We will build a national electrical grid that connects Canadians from coast to coast to coast and delivers cleaner, more affordable electricity to Canadians and Canadian businesses.
We will deliver investments to put Canadian workers and Canadian businesses at the heart of essential global supply chains. We will become the reliable supplier of the goods and resources that a net-zero world will need. In our plan, our focus is on predictable investment tax credits, strategic low-cost financing and targeted investments.
Let us talk about the clean hydrogen investment tax credit. The levels of support vary between 15% and 40% of eligible project costs, with the cleanest hydrogen projects receiving the highest support. Budget 2023 also proposes new refundable tax credits for investments in clean electricity technologies, as well as machinery and equipment used to manufacture or process key technologies and extract, process or recycle key critical minerals.
We all know that CCUS, or carbon capture, utilization and storage, is an important tool for reducing emissions. In my home province of Alberta, this critical technology will create opportunities to keep our energy sector sustainable. It will protect our industry, reduce our emissions and create great careers.
That is why budget 2023 proposes to enhance the CCUS investment tax credit to support additional equipment used in this process. This entire package of tax credits, coupled with the investments our government is making in supply chains and industry, is a game changer for the Canadian economy.
We have already seen this. Thanks to our government's investments in air products, we will now build the largest net-zero hydrogen plant in the world right in my home city of Edmonton. We have also seen it with Heidelberg Materials, which is building a full-scale carbon capture, utilization and storage system at its facility in Edmonton to allow it to create carbon-neutral cement. It is the first such facility in the world. Canadian leadership is taking place in Edmonton thanks to our budget measures.
We are at a pivotal moment in our country's history, when we are choosing to scale up efforts to develop a clean economy, a green economy. I am pleased to see that budget 2023 puts forward numerous measures to make Canada a global leader in the clean economy. With our investments, everyone will win. We will help protect the environment for all Canadians. We will create great jobs for workers and unprecedented business opportunities for our businesses.
We are presenting a plan for a better future for all Canadians and an economy that works for everyone. At this challenging time in a challenging world, there is no better place to be than in Canada.
