Statistics Canada announced recently that Canada’s economy grew 6.1% in the first quarter of 2010. This report is a clear demonstration that Canada’s Economic Action Plan, launched by our government in 2008, is helping our economy to grow stronger.
It is very encouraging to see that Canada’s economy is on the right track. Our government is proud that the economic action plan is helping to stimulate the economy, creating jobs and economic growth in Canada. Nevertheless, the continued fragility of the global economy has reinforced the need to fully implement Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

Economic Highlights
The past economic quarter includes a number of positive highlights, including increases in consumer spending and business investment. In addition, Canada’s Economic Action Plan has helped to create over 300,000 jobs for Canadian since July, including a record 108,000 jobs in April alone. Indeed, due to our positive economic development, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated that Canada’s economy “shines”, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that our economic growth will lead the G-7 nations in both this year and the next.

Tax Freedom Day
Tax Freedom Day is the day in the year when the average Canadian family has earned enough money to pay the taxes imposed by all three levels of government: federal, provincial, and municipal. A number of major taxes are used to compute Tax Freedom Day, including income taxes, property taxes, profit taxes, health, social security and employment taxes, and a number of other levies.
Since our government’s election in 2006, Tax Freedom Day has continued to fall on earlier dates. This year, Tax Freedom Day fell on June 5- almost three weeks earlier than under the previous Liberal government, which fell on June 25, 2005.  This clearly demonstrates that the Conservative tax cuts, as well as the Economic Action Plan, have helped to put Canada’s economy on the right track.

Liberal Tax Hikes
For two years, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has insisted that a Liberal government would raise taxes. His plans include a hike in the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which our government lowered from 7% to 5%. In addition, Ignatieff wants to introduce business taxes that will kill Canadian jobs.
Ignatieff’s belief that “we will have to raise taxes” would be detrimental to the Canadian economy. According to a study by experts at the University of Calgary, the tax hikes proposed by Ignatieff could kill almost 400,000 jobs. These experts have called Ignatieff’s economic plan “seriously misguided”, saying that it would “put Canada’s tax competitiveness at a disadvantage among OECD countries.”
Michael Ignatieff’s economic policies would unquestionably harm the Canadian economy. Our government is on the right track to bring Canada through the global recession with a stable economy. Through our tax cuts and the stimulus of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, our government has made sure that Canada was the last country to enter a recession, and that we will be the first to leave it.