Archived - Minister Oliver Calls for G-7 Countries to Implement Growth Strategies to Lift Global Economy

May 27, 2015 – Dresden, Germany – Department of Finance

Finance Minister Joe Oliver will meet with his Group of Seven (G-7) colleagues this week in Dresden, Germany ahead of the G-7 Leaders Summit next month.

The meetings will focus on the challenges facing the global economy and on the efforts of the G-7 and G-20 to create stronger, more sustainable and balanced growth. The meetings will take place against the backdrop of a weak and uneven global recovery. The Minister will continue to call on his colleagues to swiftly implement the country-specific growth strategies that the G-20 committed to last year. If fully implemented, these strategies would increase the G-20’s collective gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.1 per cent by the year 2018.

Minister Oliver will encourage his G-7 colleagues to take decisive and resolute action to support global economic growth while following Canada’s example of responsible fiscal management, which has made the Canadian economy stronger and more resilient following the recession.

• 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.
• The World Economic Forum rated Canada’s banking system the soundest in the world for the seventh year in a row in its annual Global Competitiveness Report.
• Canada leapt from sixth to second place in Bloomberg’s most recent ranking of the most attractive destinations for business.
• According to KPMG, total business tax costs in Canada are the lowest in the G-7 and 46 per cent lower than those in the United States.
• Canada is one of only two countries in the G-7 to receive a triple-A rating with a stable outlook from all the major credit rating agencies, including Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s and DBRS.

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

David Barnabe
Media Relations
Department of Finance
613-369-4000