THE HONOURABLE STÉPHANE DION STATES THAT CANADA'S
DECENTRALIZED NATURE IS AN ASSET
IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, April 22, 1999 – The Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, stated today that "our decentralized federation, based on solidarity of its citizens and cooperation among its governments, is perfectly equipped to take on the issues of globalization."

Referring to a poll, the Minister indicated that Canadians in all provinces, including Quebec, prefer closer cooperation between governments rather than major decentralization to the provinces or major centralization to the federal government. The Minister asserted that intergovernmental cooperation is the path being taken by the Government of Canada, together with the provincial governments, to improve our federation even more.

The Minister refuted arguments in favour of centralization, which depict the power of the provincial governments as excessive. "In the 1960s, in the heyday of the Keynesian movement," he noted, "it was said that provincial autonomy was preventing rational economic planning." Today, he continued, globalization is the concept in fashion fuelling calls for Canada to centralize.

The Minister referred in passing to the striking parallel between the thinking of Mr. Jacques Parizeau, an advocate of Quebec independence, and that of the pro-Canada advocates of centralization, who mistakenly see the strength of our provincial governments as a hindrance to rational governance.

But these arguments in favour of centralization will be proved as wrong in the future as they have been in the past, the Minister stated, before describing the measures adopted by the Government of Canada to enhance intergovernmental cooperation further, while respecting the constitutional jurisdictions of each order of government.

In the last two Martin budgets, for example, the first targets for reinvestment have been transfers to the provincial governments, Mr. Dion noted. The Minister showed how the Government has implemented flexible policies that make it possible to pursue Canada-wide objectives while taking into account the diversity of the country, as evidenced by a variety of measures, such as the Infrastructure Program, the National Child Benefit, and job training agreements.

The Minister highlighted the great potential of the social union framework agreement in terms of intergovernmental cooperation. The agreement, he stated, "represents a new and promising way to manage interdependence."

The Minister also described the active cooperation by governments in matters of foreign policy, pointing out that it has yielded excellent results, including protection for our cultural industries: "The way Canada manages to express its rich diversity with a single voice is the winning formula as we face what we refer to as globalization."

We must not reject the decentralized nature of our federation. On the contrary, Mr. Dion stated, "we must build on our exceptional capacity to pursue common objectives, at home and abroad, strengthened by the diversity of our experiences."

"Globalization is yet another argument in favour of cooperation between governments, in favour of governance the Canadian way," the Minister concluded.

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For information:
André Lamarre
Press Secretary
(613) 943-1838

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