Morneau to push for long-term growth

• Finance Minister Bill Morneau will use this week’s meeting of i ndustrial nations to promote Canada’s economic blueprint as a possible path for improving growth and financial stability in other member countries.

Morneau will join his G20 counterparts on the global s t age during a t wo- day summit beginning Friday in Shanghai. While there is general agreement among the G20 that the world is facing a major challenge to reverse a slowdown among the richest economies, there is less common ground on what to do about it.

But issues surrounding monetary and fiscal policies are likely to hold the spotlight — along with a slowdown in China’s own economy and domestic market volatility, as well as the outlook for oil prices and their impact on global growth.

“I will be proud to reconfirm Canada’s approach to economic growth as I work with my fellow G20 finance ministers to strengthen the global economy and help create prosperity for all of our citizens, particularly the middle class and the most vulnerable members of our societies,” Morneau said.

Morneau will push the Liberal plan to target tax breaks for the middle class, support f or more needy Canadians and investments in infrastructure — all of which the government says will ensure the benefits of a long- term growth strategy are spread across the economy, a senior Finance official said in a background briefing for reporters on Thursday.

That could be a hard sell for some of Canada’s G20 partners.

“Negative interest rates are proving insufficient to get back to full employment globally, and fiscal policy would be a more powerful tool,” said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets.