Archived - Minister Sorenson Calls for Action to Strengthen the Global Economic Recovery
October 27, 2014 – Toronto, Ontario – Department of Finance
Minister of State (Finance) Kevin Sorenson today called for renewed action to strengthen the global economic recovery. Speaking at the Toronto Global Forum, Minister Sorenson highlighted the weak and uneven nature of today’s growth—what International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde has called “the new mediocre.”
Though the Forum’s theme is “Rethinking Growth,” Minister Sorenson identified the real concern: renewing growth. In doing so, he lauded Canada’s economic success in the aftermath of the recession—a source of ideas for other countries to consider.
- The Group of 20 (G-20) has established the “two in five” target: a commitment by all G-20 members to raise our collective gross domestic product by at least 2% over current projections within five years.
- Canada is co-chair of the G-20 working group that is coordinating the development of country-specific growth strategies to achieve the “two in five” target.
- Since July 2009, Canada has created nearly 1.2 million net new jobs.
- Both the IMF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development expect Canada to be among the strongest growing economies in the G-7 over this year and next.
- The Government has reduced direct program spending—shrinking the size of government—for four years in a row, the first time in at least 50 years.
- For the seventh year in a row, the World Economic Forum rated Canada’s banking system as the world’s soundest.
Mark Glendenning
Office of the Minister of State (Finance)
613-369-5696
Stéphanie Rubec
Media Relations
Department of Finance
613-369-4000
