Morneau, Charest push for focus on economic growth ahead of federal budget

Former federal finance minister Bill Morneau and former Quebec premier Jean Charest are both urging the federal government to focus on economic growth ahead of the April 16 federal budget.

Former federal finance minister Bill Morneau and former Quebec premier Jean Charest are both urging the federal government to focus on economic growth ahead of the April 16 federal budget.

In a joint interview airing Sunday, CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos asked both former politicians from different political parties what they view as the biggest challenge facing the Canadian economy right now.

Morneau told Kapelos while there is incentive for the government to focus on short-term challenges like inflation, there is also a need to "think about the long term."

"What we really need to be focused on is growth. We need to recognize that more investment is critically important. In particular, more investment from other sources than the government. We need to encourage businesses to invest. That needs to be a focus of attention," the former finance minister said.

Charest agreed with Morneau and said "growth is also about increasing productivity."

"Canada has a very real issue in terms of increasing our productivity, which really means more growth and more value added in our economy," Charest said.

In a speech in Halifax on March 26, Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers referred to Canada's weak productivity as an "emergency" and said productivity in Canada's business sector is "more or less unchanged from where it was seven years ago."