Michael Ignatieff laid out the Liberals’ economic vision for leading Canada past recovery into longterm economic growth Monday in a major economic address in Toronto.

“We must do more than just recover," said the Liberal Leader. "Good government must lead our economy back to growth so we can build the prosperous, compassionate country we want to be.”

We wanted to make sure you were aware of some of the key policy planks outlined in the speech, so we’ve highlighted them below:

Supporting Canadian entrepreneurship, technology and innovation

• Liberals will offer incentives for small and medium businesses to hire and train workers, especially young workers hardest hit by unemployment.


• We’ll make a priority of manufacturing research and commercialization, to help our businesses bring new products and new technologies to market.


• We'll tackle the challenges in our venture capital markets, to drive more private investment to Canadian biotech and high-tech entrepreneurs.


• We’ll help manufacturers invest in plants and machinery, to improve their productivity.


• We will stand up for our flagship Canadian companies, made-in-Canada technologies, Canadian jobs and our intellectual property —with an investment review process that guarantees our national interests. We will welcome foreign investment, but we’ll require foreign companies to build and sustain Canadian jobs.

Investing in people and communities

• We will permanently increase the gas tax transfer to our cities and communities to relieve the pressure on property taxes, and help cities and towns invest in public transit and water systems.


• We will support community infrastructure, broadband and bridges in our regions to support economic development.

“Going where the growth is” to open up new markets for Canadian goods:

• We will bring back Team Canada trade missions to China, India and emerging markets.


• We will support our Atlantic and Pacific Gateways – the key to our export performance.


• We will lead in our relationship with the U.S. to tackle Buy American and non-tariff barriers like Country-Of-Origin-Labelling and a thickening border.

Returning a balanced approach to Canada’s finances

• We will open the federal government’s book with a full audit.


• We will make the PBO independent –no more wishful projections and false promises.


• We will control spending – the Liberal way. We will balance the books without making the most vulnerable pay the price.


• And we will eliminate waste – like the fact that the Conservatives are spending 5 times more advertising their so-called Economic Action Plan than on a public awareness campaign for H1N1.

Read the full speech to learn more about the Liberal plan for growth: http://bit.ly/lDIwX

Blog