Address by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the Occasion of the Calgary Leader's Dinner

September 18, 2002
Calgary, Alberta

This is my first chance to be in Calgary since my announcement at our National Caucus in Chicoutimi. And while I have a lot of work to do in the next 17 months, I cannot help but reflect with satisfaction on the fact that my tenure as Leader of the Liberal Party began here in Calgary 12 years ago.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank the people of Calgary for the incredible job you did on the Kananaskis G8 Summit. You set the standard for balancing civility and security at major international summits allowing me and my G8 colleagues, and the world, to focus on the important work we did on behalf of Africa. You did Calgary and Canada proud.

I have always said that a strong economy is the essence of a strong society. We have worked very hard as a government since the first day we took office. Who would have said at that time that today we would be outperforming the United States.

This is no accident. It is due to the hard work of Canadians.

During the recent global slowdown, our economy experienced only a brief contraction in the summer of 2000. But the American economy shrank in each of the first three quarters of 2001. Between the second quarter of 2000 and the end of 2001, our economy grew at a rate five times faster than the United States. Between the second quarter of 2000 and the second quarter of this year, our standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita, rose 3.3 % compared to a drop of .5 % in the United States. In the first eight months of this year, our economy created 386,000 net new jobs. Even in absolute numbers, more new jobs have been created in Canada this year than in the United States.

Our budget remains in balance. The United States budget is in deficit. Our current account is in surplus. The American current account is in deficit.

Impressive statistics. Hard won gains. Made possible by the support and sacrifice of our citizens. And by our insistence on rock solid fiscal discipline. And I want to assure you tonight that our government will never make commitments that drive Canada back into the red.

We will continue to balance our budgets. And we will keep the debt to GDP ratio on a firm downward track.

But we also have to make forward-looking strategic investments. Just as Alberta does. It was Peter Lougheed, for example, who created the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund to help foster world class research facilities. And the Alberta government today invests heavily in science, in education, in health. Albertans are today reaping the benefits of these wise investments. Indeed, Calgary is not only the oil capital of Canada it has become a magnet for new economy jobs and investment.

Our government is doing the same thing on a national scale with our emphasis on innovation, research and development, through the Canada Research Chairs, through the Canada Foundation of Innovation and through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

But the true test of enduring partnership and public confidence is not the difference we have made but the difference we will make —that we must make. Not what we have done together, but what we will do.

And, my friends, we still we have a lot more work to do.

Our agenda for this session of Parliament recognizes that our healthy fiscal and economic 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.

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. In our Throne Speech, and in the coming months, we will make significant commitments to reduce these crucial deficits even further.

My friends, we will make significant new announcements and progress to improve the life chances of our First Nations. In general, Western Canada, and especially Alberta, may be doing well economically. But Aboriginal Canadians are not. And they are a fast-growing part of the labour force in Western Canada. They remain an untapped source of skills and economic potential.

You will see significant additional action on children in 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.

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.

Modernizing our health care system remains a major part of our 21^st century agenda.

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.

Ralph Klein has always been a positive force in these discussions. Without him, we would not have achieved a consensus among First Ministers on Health in September 2000. And I know I will be able to rely on Ralph Klein -- the dean of the Premiers -- again when we meet in the New Year.

Climate change is a crucial part of our agenda.

I want to address very clearly tonight what our approach to climate change means. And, equally important, what it does not mean.

I know that some might suggest that the chill in this room produced by the mere mention of the word Kyoto is powerful enough by itself to reduce global warming. But in all seriousness let me start with some fundamentals with which we all agree.

First, we all agree that the health and well being of future generations requires the world to collectively address the issue of climate change. How we address it may be open to debate. But not whether we address it.

Second, we all agree that it will take effort and resources to be successful and that without a strong economy and a proper climate for investment those resources will simply not be available. So we cannot, must not and will not, put our economic prospects and future at risk

Third, as Canadians, we all agree that we must act in Canada in a manner that is responsible and equitable. That distributes the burden and the risk equitably across sectors of the economy and across regions of the country: between producers and consumers; between individuals and businesses; between citizens and governments.

Fourth, we all agree that the technologies required to successfully address climate change bring with them fantastic economic opportunities. We should maximize for Canada the benefits of developing new environmental technologies.

Let me now turn to some of your concerns in Alberta.

There is a lot of rhetoric that Kyoto is a dagger aimed at the heart of the Alberta economy. That is simply not true. I know that the so-called heavy emitters in the energy sectors -- in the utilities and in manufacturing -- have expressed very serious and legitimate concerns.

I brought some of the most senior officials in the government with me today from Ottawa to be part of a meeting I had this afternoon in Calgary some of the leaders of industry to hear their concerns. I assured them that our consultations with them over the next several weeks, led by the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, will be intense, real and productive. I reaffirmed that we can -- and must -- work together in good faith. These consultations will have a major impact in the plan we produce before the vote in Parliament later this year.

Let me speak personally for a moment.

I take great pride in the economic achievements of Canada since I became Prime Minister. I will not put them at risk. I take great pride in my personal participation both as a Minister in the 1970s. And as Prime Minister in the development of the Oil Sands. I will not put that at risk. I take great pride in seeing a dynamic and growing Alberta economy which is of benefit to all of Canada. I will not put that at risk.

I know that how we approach the implementation of our Kyoto obligations must take into account the importance of the natural resource sector for the Canadian economy. And it must take into account our place in the North American economy.

We, as a country, have chosen a multi-lateral approach for addressing climate change. I strongly believe that in this, as in other areas, the world is less well served by unilateralism. I regret the decision of the United States not to ratify Kyoto. But the fact that the United States is not ratifying Kyoto does not mean that the United States is doing nothing. It does not mean that we should do nothing. The Americans are acting nationally and at the state level. In many respects, California is leading the world in addressing climate change.

I do not pretend that achieving our climate change objectives will be easy. It will not be. We have ten years to meet our obligations under the treaty. But we can make progress together. There are many good ideas: from industry, from provincial governments including the government of Alberta. That will take us a long way toward meeting our obligations. Technology will take us further.

We are working very hard to put in place the plan I referred to earlier. A plan that will reduce uncertainty for business and for investors. A plan that will meet our environmental responsibilities while taking into account the views of the most affected industries.

The plan may not answer every single question. No plan can do that. It will be adjusted if necessary as we learn and work together. No business in a market economy operates in a completely risk free environment. I recognize that our Kyoto obligations add to the uncertainty you face. Our job is to work with you to minimize that uncertainty.

That we will do. We will give assurances as to how much cost and risk each sector of society will be asked to bear. And we will also address some fears by giving assurances of what actions we will never take.

My friends, let me draw an analogy with the development of the Oil Sands. The Oil Sands would never have gone ahead if their developers had been pre-occupied only by immediate quarterly earnings. They had the vision and confidence to look ten, twenty and thirty years ahead. They were prepared to take risks. They gambled that new technologies would be developed to extract oil profitably. Technologies that did not exist when they began.

Companies developing the Oils Sands have become world leaders in environmental technologies. They have made great progress in reducing carbon emissions. And they know they can, and will, do better.

The Oil Sands are a Canadian success story because their developers took risks, dreamed large and believed in their responsibility for future generations. And they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. What has been achieved in Alberta in Oil Sands production, Canada can achieve in climate change reduction.

Working together, expanding our horizons, putting aside the rhetoric, I am confident that Canadians can rise to the challenge. We will meet our targets -- responsibly -- in the best interests of the economy, the environment and future generations.

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