First, we undertook to achieve the
potential of Canada by building on the very real strengths that
exist or can be developed in each of our regions.
Second, we would restrain the growth
of government spending and make more efficient use of the resources
available to the national government.
Third, we would improve Canada's
economic performance through greater reliance on the private sector
as the prime generator of growth, jobs and wealth for Canadians.
Fourth, we would recognize the cultural
diversity of Canada as a national asset and increase the opportunity
for all our diverse elements to grow and thereby enrich our national
life.
Fifth, we would put a fresh face
on federalism by replacing confrontation with cooperation in our
relations with the provinces and by modernizing our major institutions.
Finally, we would enhance the role
of the individual within our system by providing more open and
responsive government, by increasing the opportunity for those
outside government to participate in its decisions, and by giving
individual Canadians a chance to build a stake in their country.
Let me dwell for a moment on the
question of a stake in the country -- of the sense that the citizen
belongs to the nation and the nation to the citizen. Restoring
that sense is a fundamental goal of my government, and there are
several fronts on which we have begun to act. Some are well known.
Our mortgage deductibility plan is designed to encourage Canadians
to become owners of something tangible and lasting. Our youth
employment plans will respond with jobs and training to young
people who now feel the system is against them. Our plans to encourage
Canadians's equity holdings will help our citizens to get more
control of our economy, and broaden the base of involvement.
Those are specific programs. But
in achieving our goal, processes are as important as programs.
We have begun a deliberate program of seeking the advice of people
outside government on major issues facing the nation. For example,
this morning I had the opportunity to meet with representatives
of both industry and organized labour in Vancouver. Before both
my summer trips abroad, I had the benefit of formal advice from
Canadians with special information, and in both Tokyo and Lusaka,
the Canadian Labour Congress, in particular, was most helpful
in giving me background information. In Federal-Provincial relations,
the Honourable Robert de Cotret and a team of federal ministers
will start next Wednesday, a series of meetings with Provincial
Ministers to discuss national economic development programs.
I have reviewed the basic commitments
we made to the people of Canada prior to May 22nd. They will form
the foundation of our policies and programs during what I expect
to be a full term of office. My colleagues and I will be proposing
initial action in all of these major areas in the speech from
the Throne next month.
I expect it to be a busy and exciting
fall. It has been a very busy summer too but in a different way.
Before we could change the program of the government, we had to
change the way we govern.
The Cabinet is smaller, and has a
formal executive committee, the inner Cabinet. Power, which had
been concentrated around the Prime Minister, has been returned
to full Cabinet by a stronger Cabinet committee system. We significantly
expanded the use of Ministers of State to bring more effective
political direction to the most complex departments.
We have opened government and will
consecrate that principle with freedom of information legislation.
Open government is important to all Canadians, including particularly
a Prime Minister. I need to know what is going on, and what is
going wrong in my government, and the best guarantee that I will
know is for you to know.
In that spirit of openness, let me
convey my view that we have a dedicated and expert public service
in Ottawa: its senior officials have been of invaluable assistance
to my colleagues and me in getting hold of the government. But
we are determined that the Public Service shall not be the sole
source of advice available to ministers.
We are using the practical talents
of .members of Parliament to assist ministers in dealing with
questions ranging from grain transportation to unemployment insurance
administration. We will make full use of outside experts, both
as individuals and in task forces, to advice the government on
policy directions and, equally important, on how policies can
be quickly and effectively implemented. For example, Pat Carney
of this city is assisting the government in planning an initiative
on Pacific rim trade and economic opportunities to be held in
Vancouver later this fall: Jalynn Bennett of Toronto, formerly
of the Ontario Economic Council, is preparing recommendations
for the government on the future role of the Economic Council
of Canada: and next week we will be announcing members of a task
force to advise us on how to disperse the ownership of certain
assets of Petro Canada among individual Canadians.
At our meeting in Jasper this week,
we made another fundamental change in the way we govern. We confirmed
and began to implement a new system for allocating the financial
resources available to the Government of Canada.
There is not much sex appeal in expenditure
management. In fact, if the government wants to attract attention,
it can ignore expenditure control. Then it will become known for
the money it wastes. We would prefer to be known for the public
money we save.
The system we are implementing has
four major features. First, it is 'top down'. We will first decide
the total amount of money available to the government in a given
year, and that decision will set the boundary for every other
decision. Ministers must plan, and departments must spend, within
strict limits, which will be public. Second, the system allows
four year planning. Each year, we will publish not only the spending
limit for the next fiscal year, but the global amounts which those
decisions imply for the following three year.. That means that
ministers must say today what their programs will cost tomorrow.
Third, it brings together the responsibility for planning policy
and practicing restraint, by handing to each policy committee
of Cabinet direct responsibility for allocating the funds available
to support policies and programs in that field. Finally, it means
that every ministers who wants to start a new program now must
find the money by reducing or replacing an existing program.
It is, in short, a fundamental change
in the way government manages its expenditures. Without that change
in my view it would simply not be possible to get effective control
over the spending process and the efficient use of your tax dollars.