Archived - Minister Oliver Calls for Fiscal Responsibility and for All Countries to Rise to Global Challenges at First G-20 Meeting of 2015

February 9, 2015 – Istanbul, Turkey – Department of Finance

Finance Minister Joe Oliver is attending the Group of 20 (G-20) meeting in Istanbul today where, as co-chair of the Framework Working Group, he is calling on Canada’s G-20 partners to action country-specific growth strategies agreed to in Brisbane. These strategies, if implemented, aim to increase global growth through lifting the G-20’s collective gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.1% by 2018—well above current projections.

The meetings in Istanbul will focus on the extraordinary challenges facing the global economy, and are being held in the wake of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) downgrading of 2015 growth projections in key regions around the world.

As the G-20 considers its response to these challenges, Minister Oliver is encouraging his colleagues to lead through responsible fiscal management. This has been Canada’s approach, and as a result, Canada today is a post-recession economic success story.

• The Canadian economy has posted one of the strongest job creation records in the G-7 over the recovery, with more than 1.2 million jobs created since June 2009.
• Real GDP is significantly above pre-recession levels—the best performance in the G-7.
• 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 the next two years.
• Canada leapt from sixth to second place in Bloomberg’s most recent ranking of the most attractive destinations for business.
• Four credit rating agencies—Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s and DBRS—have all reaffirmed their top ratings for Canada.

Melissa Lantsman
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Finance
613-369-5696

Stéphanie Rubec
Media Relations
Department of Finance
613-369-4000