Address by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to a Welcome Reception held by André Harvey, MP for Chicoutimi-Le Fjord

August 20, 2002
Chicoutimi, Québec

I am delighted to be here today with our caucus in the riding of André Harvey. Who would have believed just a few years ago that a riding in Saguenay Lac Saint Jean would send a Liberal member to Ottawa? It shows just how much things have changed for the better since 1993. Just how much the people of Québec are now focused on seizing the opportunities of the future not dwelling on the grievances of the past. Just how little appetite there is for the idea of separation in the new Quebec of the 21st century.

We are here, our entire Liberal team, to discuss and make plans for the next steps in achieving our 21st century agenda. An ambitious agenda that is a grounded in reality and focussed squarely on the future. An agenda for long term prosperity, world class innovation and an unmatched Canadian quality of life. An agenda founded on an extraordinary record of accomplishment. A record that we have built together, step by step, as a team.

My friends, I have always said that Caucus is the most important meeting on my calendar. It is the place where we challenge each other to find creative solutions in the national interest.

Caucus is a vital part of our Canadian parliamentary system. A system where parties run as a team, with a leader. They get elected on policy platforms. The team and the leader then work together, throughout a mandate, to fulfil platform commitments.

Our parliamentary system is different from that of the United States. Where there is no party discipline. Where members of Congress do not run on national platforms. Where special interests pour money into individual congressional races.

Where the Administration cannot deliver an agreement on softwood lumber because it has to give in to the wishes of some senator who owes his election to American lumber producers and who threatens to use his power as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to block other legislation of importance to the President.

We don’t have a system where important judicial positions remain vacant for years because of the political games and ideological tests of Congress.

We don’t have a system where the Administration tells the world it doesn’t like the Farm Bill. But has to give in to Congressmen, who are subject not to Party discipline, but to the discipline of lobbyists and the money of special interest groups.

Now that is a real democratic deficit. And we don’t need it in Canada.

Less than 2 years ago, we were given a clear mandate by the people of Canada. We were obviously thrown off that agenda by the awful events of September 11. A that time, most economists said that a recession in Canada was a foregone conclusion. But thanks to our economic and fiscal policies, our economy is now growing faster than any other in the G-8. Creating more jobs more quickly than any other country. We are now extremely well positioned to pursue an activist agenda for the rest of our mandate. An agenda whose foundation is an unswerving commitment to the fiscal discipline that has brought about an era of balanced budgets, lower taxes and debt repayment.

But our Liberal agenda recognizes that this healthy balance sheet will only remain healthy if we continue, as well, to make strategic, long term investments in our social and economic infrastructure: in learning, in children and in the environment.

September 11^th . Enron. WorldCom. These shocking events have reminded people of the value of government.

For my part, I have always believed that government is a force for good in society. I have never believed that government has all the answers. But I have also always rejected the right wing belief that government is always the problem.

My credo is captured best in the words of a great American President, Franklin Roosevelt. Who said:

As soon as we began to balance the books, we began to address other pressing deficits. The social, environmental and infrastructure deficits that are still very real and are preventing Canada from achieving its full economic and social potential.

This mix of steadfast fiscal prudence and strategic investment is the essence of our balanced Liberal approach to government.

I confess that our agenda may not meet with the approval of Bay Street or the National Post or even the Globe and Mail. But it is an agenda for Main Street: for Saguenay-Lac St. Jean, for the East side of Vancouver and the interior of Newfoundland, for Regents Park in Toronto and Market Square in Winnipeg, for the East end of Montreal, and for one industry towns scattered throughout rural Canada.

And just look at what we have done: the National Child Benefit: a secure Canada Pension Plan: Aboriginal Head Start; SchoolNet; the Millenium Scholarships; investments in universities; new money for health care; investments in early childhood development; a new Agricultural Policy framework; the Clarity Act.

But the true test of enduring public confidence is not the difference we have made, but the difference we can still make -- that we must make. Not what we have done. But what we will do.

Because, my friands, we have a lot more work to do.

There are still too many children who are not getting a good start in life. Too many families living in poverty. Too many communities living with contaminated sites. A health care system in need of modernization. Physical infrastructure that must be upgraded.

As we approach the resumption of Parliament, our policy agenda is robust and forward-looking.

You will see significant new announcements and progress to improve the life chances of our First Nations.

You will see significant additional action on children, poverty and ensuring a good start in life for all.

You will see significant additional action, within our own jurisdiction, to build an urban infrastructure that makes our cities a magnet for talent and investment.

Jane Stewart and Allan Rock are engaging all Canadians in building our place in the knowledge economy, in improving our research and development performance, and in promoting skills and learning development. You will see significant additional action in this area.

To meet our obligations today for future generations, we are working very hard to address climate change. On behalf of all Canadians, we will announce an effective approach to achieve the objectives of the Kyoto Accord and probably to ratify it.

Health will be a major part of our agenda for the fall and the rest of our mandate. I appointed Roy Romanow to make recommendations on a high quality public health care system for all Canadians for the 21st century. He will make recommendations in November. After that, I will hold a First Ministers Meeting and then we will act.

My friends, this is a time when confidence in our institutions is in question – whether in the public sector or in business. Transparency is more important than ever. It is a fundamental test of leadership -- public and private. We will introduce a significant public sector ethics package which will have transparency as its watchword. And which can serve as an example to the private sector.

I am setting out this evening an ambitious agenda. Which has been shaped by Caucus and will be further strengthened by Caucus. It is an agenda that cannot be put in place overnight. It will take some time, and possibly two budgets of Mr. Manley, to set the legislative and fiscal framework which will put this agenda firmly in place.

My friends, tonight my message should be very clear. Our responsibility, all of us -- each and everyone of us -- is to focus on our agenda. That is why we were elected. Not because we have a divine right to govern.

Canadians didn’t like the alternatives. They didn’t like their platforms. Canadians also didn’t like their internal fights and divisions. And, quite frankly, I don’t think Canadians like what they have seen from us this summer.

All of us have a responsibility to pull together. To respect the traditions of our Party. To end the fighting. And, most important, to implement our program. It is the only way we can do our duty to the only boss that matters: the people of Canada.

As for my own future, I have a profound sense of duty and responsibility to the two offices I hold: one as Prime Minister and the other as leader of the Liberal Party.

A Prime Minister has a unique duty to preserve the integrity of the office. It is a duty and responsibility that all of my predecessors had, and that all of my successors will have. It is not about power. It is about responsibility. And whoever holds the office of Prime Minister, now or in the future, must respect its special nature. Special because of who gives it: it is given by the people. As Prime Minister, I have a duty to fulfil the commitments we made, less than 2 years ago, to the millions of Canadians who gave us their trust and confidence.

And as leader of the Liberal Party, I have the duty and the responsibility to ensure that it is in the best possible position to win the next election.

My friends, the Liberal Party is my family. My dedication to its best interests is bred in my bones.

For forty years, I have served my country and our Party to the best of my abilities. You can be certain, my friends, that my decision about my future will be based solely on my sense of duty and responsibility to the country I love, to the office that I hold and to the Liberal Party, which is my family.

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