For example, the Inuit and First Nations with registered status had a growth rate of about 12 per cent each, and that was largely due to natural increase.

At the same time, business and consumer confidence remains high, thanks to the low interest rates and an inflation rate that remains in a 1% to 3% target range. We have kind of a happy situation with low interest rates, a fairly robust dollar, which has pluses and minuses to it, and we have an inflation rate that is well within the acceptable range of 1% to 3%.

With economic action plan 2014, the government continues to support families and communities by keeping taxes low, putting consumers first, protecting Canadians' health and safety, and making communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.

· negative natural population growth is also a major problem

The population of Canada is projected to increase from 32.3 million in 2005 to approximately 39 million in 2031, and 42.5 million in 2056.[37] " Canada's rate of natural increase is projected to become negative between 2025 and 2030 if the country's level of fertility remains at its current low level of 1.5 children per woman," [38] after which immigration will sustain declining levels of population growth.

To help correct this unfortunate situation, MAC recommends that the federal government accelerate the reduction of the corporate income tax rate on resource income from 28% to 21% over the period 2003 to 2007; that you announce a reduction in the general corporate income tax rate to 17% by the end of the decade and immediately initiate consultations with the provinces and territories to offset the increase in revenues created by the new federal tax structure; that you increase the exploration tax credit from 10% to 20%, ensuring that it is no lower than what is currently provided for expenditures on qualified scientific research and de ...[+++]velopment; and that you modernize the Income Tax Act definition of Canadian exploration expense to include current expenditures incurred.