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We’re making historic investments in infrastructure, to help Canadian businesses get their goods to market and create the kind of good jobs middle-class families need.

We’re moving ahead with real, practical solutions to encourage greater investment through approaches like the Canada Infrastructure Bank and support industry-led initiatives, such as the Canadian Business Growth Fund.

We are investing in people, in giving Canadians the skills they need to make the most of every opportunity, whether they’re entering the workforce for the first time or retraining for a new job.

And as we address these long-term trends and opportunities, we understand that there is a need to be responsive to challenges that arise in the immediate term — like the ongoing renegotiation of NAFTA, the need to get Canadian products to market quickly and safely, and the recent tax reform in the United States.

What our government won’t do — and readers of these pages will have heard me say this before — is react in a “knee-jerk” fashion. Instead, we’ll look at all the facts, and make the choices that are right for Canada — for our people, our businesses, and our future prosperity.

That will require a healthy dose of listening, which I am committed to doing. And it will require all of us to take a broad view of what competitiveness means. Yes, that means taking a look at tax rules. But competitiveness rests on so much more than that — from workforce participation to skilled workers to modern infrastructure to science and innovation to global trade.

As finance minister, my job is never done when it comes to supporting greater economic growth, strengthening and growing the middle class, and improving Canada’s competitiveness. It’s a challenge I welcome, because I know how competitive we can be when we invest responsibly and work hard.

But I also believe in making decisions based on the facts, and the fact is that Canada remains one of the best places in the world to start, grow, and invest in a business.

Bill Morneau is Canada’s Minister of Finance.