At the beginning of my talk today, I noted that, for over a decade now, Canada has followed a policy based on the four key principles: trade liberalization, structural reform, fiscal prudence, and inflation control. It's never easy to follow those principles, but, over the medium term, they do lead to better economic performance. Canada's recent economic record is evidence of that.
We have maintained an enviable growth performance through what has been a very difficult period for the world economy. We remain optimistic - and so do others - that we will continue to do so. Both the OECD and the IMF predict that Canada's economy will outperform those of other G-7 countries this year. But these are difficult times.